Duke  University  Libraries 


D03796483/ 


MESSAGE 


OF 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA, 


TO  THE 


GENERAL  ASSEMBLY. 


RICHMOND: 

rAMBS  E.  GOODE,  SENATE  PRINTER. 
1864. 


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in  2010  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/messageofgoverno02virg 


MESSAGE, 


Executive  Department, 

Richmond,  Ya.,  Dec.  7,  1864. 
Gentlemen  of  the  Senate 

and  House  of  1>>  legates : 

I  am  gratified  that  you  have  again  met  in  genera]  assem- 
bly, to  take  into  consideration  the  condition  of  our  afflicted  common- 
wealth. At  the  period  of  your  last  adjournment,  our  enemy  was  en- 
gaged in  vast  preparations  for  the  capture  and  occupation  of  this  proud 
city.  Having  completed  his  preparations,  by  the  organization  of  one 
of  the  most  formidable  armies  ever  assembled  on  this  continent,  he, 
about  the  1st  of  May  last,  commenced  his  march.  He  relied  with  con- 
fidence upon  his  vast  numbers  and  thorough  equipment,  for  an  early 
consummation  of  his  long  deferred  hopes.  Led  by  the  greatest  of  his 
captains,  flushed  with  numerous  successes,  it  was  entirely  natural  that 
he  should  fearlessly  look  to  the  future,  while  we  should  contemplate  it 
with  uneasiness  and  apprehension,  lie  had,  how<  ver,  scarcely  crossed 
tli.'  Kapidan,  before  our  noble  army,  led  by  that  great  and  good  man, 
General  R.  E.  Lee,  breaking  up  their  camp,  dashed  upon  his  haughty 
columns,  and  after  one  of  the  bloodiest  and  best  contested  battles  of 
the  war.  taught  the  enemy  to  respect  the  army  he  had  affected  to  despise, 
and  to  know  that  his  march  to  Richmond  would  be  attended  with  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  he  had  not  anticipated.  I  shall  not  undertake  to 
detail  the  series  of  bloody  battles  which  were  fought,  on  (lie  road  to 
Richmond,  nor  tell  how  the  enemy,  although  continually  strengthened 
by  heavy  reinforcements,  was  compelled  to  leave  the  city  to  his  right. 
until  finally  he  crossed  the  James,  and  undertook,  by  a  coup  de  main, 
to  carry  the  city  of  Petersburg;  nor  how,  after  nearly  a  seven  months' 
•aign,  of  unexampled  slaughter  of  his  men.  he  still  finds  himself 
with  hope  deferred,  and  but  little  prospect  of  realizing  expectations  so 
confidently  entertained  for  the  last  three  years.     Suffice  it  to  say.  that 


4  GOVERNOR'S    MESSAGE. 

you,  gentlemen,  are  here  in  safety — here  in  calm  deliberation — here  to 
digest  those  measures  which  are  still  required  by  the  dangers  we  have 
yet  to  meet. 

It  is  right,  however,  that  I  should  warn  you  that  the  enemy  is  dili- 
gently engaged  in  strengthening  his  army,  and  in  recovering  from  the 
exhaustion  caused  by  his  repeated  defeats.  It  is  difficult  really  to  com- 
prehend our  foe.  The  right  of  self-government  was  established  by  the 
blood  of  our  revolutionary  fathers;  was  proclaimed  in  the  declaration 
of  independence,  and  is  engrafted  in  the  constitution  of  all  the  states  f 
and  yet  the  United  States,  with  reckless  extravagance  in  men  and 
money,  unparalleled  in  the  world's  history,  is  denying  this  right,  and 
seeking  to  overthrow  and  subjugate  the  people  who  proclaim  it,  and  who 
only  ask  to  be  let  alone — who,  for  simply  asserting  and  maintaining  this 
principle,  are  pursued  with  a  venom,  malignity  and  hate  unknown  in 
civilized  war. 

With  everything  dear  to  man  at  stake,  I  cannot  suppose  that  there 
will  be  any  hesitation  on  your  part  to  embody  the  whole  resources  of 
the  state,  in  men  and  means,  in  order  to  enable  us  successfully  to  avert 
the  awful  doom  our  enemy  has  in  store  for  us. 

One  of  your  first  duties,  gentlemen,  will  be  to  take  into  consideration 
the  measures  to  bring  into  the  field  all  able-bodied  men  who  are  not 
necessary  to  the  state  government.  It  is  utterly  impossible  for  me  to 
understand  the  logic  which  exempts  state  officers  who  are  not  necessary 
for  the  state  government;  and  yet  it  is  the  fact  that  the  judges  are 
undertaking  to  turn  loose  from  the  grasp  of  military  authority  men 
without  any  duty  to  perform,  upon  the  ground  that  they  are  officers 
provided  by  the  constitution  and  the  laws.  -  There  are  some  forty  or 
fifty  counties  of  Virginia  within  the  enemy's  lines,  most  of  them  under 
a  regular  government  of  the  enemy.  The  state  officers  therein  have 
been,  where  loyal  of  course,  expelled  from  office,  and  are  refugees. 
Most  of  them  have  acquired  new  homes,  and  formed  new  social  and 
business  relations,  and  may  not  return  to  their  counties  until  this  war 
shall  terminate.  Many  will  never  return  even  with  peace,  and  it  may 
be  ;?  question,  if  they  should  do  30,  whether  they  would  have  a  right  to 
resume  their  offices.  Under  the  laws  and  the  constitution,  the  counties 
will  average  about  sixty  officers,  furnishing  within  the  enemy's  lines  a 
number  equal  to  about  two  thousand,  constituting  a  force  sufficient,  it 
may  be,  to  turn  the  tide  of  a  great  battle.     Yet,  according  to.  the  de- 


GOVERNOR  S    MESSAGE.  5 

cisions  of  some  of  the  judges,  these  officers  would  be  exempt  from  mili- 
tary duty,  although  without  civil  duties  to  perform,  and  with  a  great 
probability  that  they  will  have  none  during  the  continuance  of  the  war. 

The  court  of  appeals,  in  the  case  of  Burroughs  vs.  Peyton,  &c,  has 
well  said  that  "the  obligation  of  the  citizen  to  render  military  service  is  a 
paramount,  social  and  political  duty.  It  is  a  matter  in  which  the  whole 
body  politic  is  interested.  'The  citizens  have  a  right  collectively  and 
individually  to  the  service  of  each  other  to  avert  any  danger  which  may 
be  menaced.  The  manner  in  which  the  service  is  to  be  apportioned 
among  them,  is  a  matter  for  legislation.'  The  government,  as  the  agent 
and  trustee  of  the  people,  is  charged  with  the  whole  military  strength 
of  the  nation,  in  order  that  it  may  be  employed  so  as  to  insure  the 
safety  of  all.  The  power  wh  ch  it  has  to  enforce  the  performance  of 
the  obligation  to  render  military  service,  is  given  that  it  may  be  used, 
not  abdicated.  No  right  has  been  conferred  on  the  government  to  di- 
vest itself,  by  contract  or  otherwise,  of  the  power  of  employing,  when- 
ever and  as  the  exigencies  of  the  country  may  demand,  the  whole  mili- 
tary Strength  that  has  been  placed  at  his  disposal.  A.S  the  nature  and 
extent  of  those  exigencies  cannot  be  foreseen,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
to  say  in  advance  that  the  services  of  every  citizen  capable  of  b< 
arms  may  not  become  indispensable  for  the  defence  of  the  countrv,  the 
government  has  no  right  to  enter  into  any  contract  precluding  it  from 
requiring  those  services,  if  they  should  be  needed.  If  there  be  such 
right,  the  spectacle  might  be  presented  of  a  nation  subjugated  and  de- 
stroyed at  a  time  when  it  had  within  its  limits  citizens  amply  sufficient 
to  defend  it  successfully  against  all  the  assaults  of  its  enemies,  but 
whose  Bervices  could  not  be  commanded  because,  forsooth,  the  govern- 
ment had  contracted  with  them  that  they  should  not  be  required  to  serve 
in  the  army."  Again:  "The  power  of  coercing  the  citizen  to  render 
military  service  for  such  time  and  under  such  circumstances  as  the  gov- 
ernment may  think  fit,  is  a  transcendant  power;  but  so  far  from  being 
inconsistent  with  liberty,  is  essential  to  its  preservation.  A  nation 
cannot  foresee  the  extent  of  the  dangers  to  which  it  may  be  exposed. 
It  must  therefore  grant  to  its  government  a  power  equal  to  every  possi- 
ble emergency;  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  giving  to  it  the  control  of 
its  whole  military  strength.  The  danger  that  the  power  may  be  abused 
cannot  render  it  proper  to  withhold  it,  for  it  is  necessary  to  the  national 
life." 

It  would  seem  to  me  that  the  doctrine  of  these  extracts  covers   the 


6  governor's  mess  \<;  i.. 

whole  question ;  but  should  there  be  a  doubt  remaining,  the  following 
extract  from  the  same  able  opinion,  repeating  a  well  established  rule  of 
law,  must  dispel  it:  "The  well  established  ride  of  construction  is 
that  all  grants  of  privileges  and  exemptions  from  general  burdens  arc 
to  be  construed  liberally  in  favor  of  the  public,  and  strictly  as  against 
the  grantee.  Whatever  is  not  plainly  expressed  and  unequivocally 
granted,  is  taken  to  be  withheld."  Taken  in  this  view,  how  can  there 
be  a  question?  The  officers  referred  to  are  local  officers  ;  their  duties 
are  local ;  they  forfeit  their  offices  if  .they  leave  their  counties.  The 
justices  of  the  peace  are  compelled  to  reside  in  the  districts  from  which 
they  are  elected;  and  yet  these  officers  are  refugees — that  is,  resident- 
out  of  their  counties.  In  undertaking  to  protect  them  against  the  for- 
feiture provided  by  law,  the  courts  have  to  assume  that  they  are  ex- 
cused from  the  residence  required,  in  consequence  of  the  compulsion  of 
the  enemy.  Is  not  this  inference  judicial  legislation  ?  At  any  rate,  no 
act  of  assembly  authorizes  such  an  inference ;  and  is  it  to  be  supposed 
that  the  law  would  not  have  provided  for  such  a  case  had  the  legis- 
lature deemed  it  proper  to  do  so  ?  At  least,  can  it  be  said  that  there 
is  no  doubt  upon  the  subject ;  and  if  a  doubt,  that  it  should  not,  in  the 
language  of  an  extract  already  quoted,  "be  construed  liberally  in  favor 
of  the  public?"  How  .can  the  state  be  injured  by  the  view  for  Avhich  I 
contend?  How  it  may  be  prejudiced  by  the  converse  of  the  proposition, 
all  can  see. 

But  to  exempt  this  large  class  of  officers,  or  any  portion  of  them, 
when  they  have  no  service  to  perform,  is,  it  seems  to  me,  plainly  un- 
constitutional.    The  fourth  article  of  the  bill  of  right  reads  as  follows  : 

That  no  man  or  set  of  men  are  entitled  to  exclusive  or  separate 
emoluments  or  'privileges  from  the  community  but  in  consideration  of 
public  services."  Will  not  these  officers,  without  civil  duties  to  per- 
form, enjoy  personal  u  privileges?"  Surely  it  may  legitimately  be 
argued,  that  so  far  from  being  exempted,  they  are  under  a  special  ob- 
ligation, in  addition  to  the  general  one  attaching  to  every  citizen,  to 
fight  for  the  recovery  of  their  counties.  They  have  been  ousted  of  their 
offices,  have  consequently  suffiered  a  personal  injury,  and  will  realize  a 
special  advantage  in  the  recovery  of  the  counties  from  which  they  have 
been  expelled.  I  know  it  is  contended  that  these  officers  are  entitled 
to  exemption  under  the  decision  of  the  court  in  the  case  from  which 
I  have  so  freely  quoted,  and  the  following  extract  is  relied  i  pon  in  sup- 
port of  the  position  : 


GOVERNOR  8    MESSAGE. 

"It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  government  of  the  Cenfedcrato 
States  can  rightfully  destroy  the  government  of  the  states  which  created 
it ;  and  all  the  powers  conferred  on  it  must  he  understood  to  have  been 
given  with  the  limitation  that  >n  executing  them,  nothing  shall  be  done 
to  interfere  with  the  independent  exercise  of  its  sovereign  powers  by 
each  state.  Congress  can  have  no  right,  therefore,  to  deprive  a  state  of 
any  officer  necessary  to  the  action  of  its  government ;  and  the  state  itself 
is  the  sole  judge  as  to  the  officers  that  are  necessary  for  that  purpose." 

I  entirely  concur  with  the  doctrine  here  expressed  ;  but  can  it  be  said 
that  the  officers  of  a  locality  within  the  enemy's  lines,  and  under  the 
regular  supervision  of  the  agents  of  a  foreign  government,  are  necessary 
to  the  action  of  the  government  of  the  state  f  And  under  this  doctrine, 
can  any  officer  of  a  county  within  our  own  jurisdiction  be  entitled  to 
exemption  unless  he  be  necessary?  It  in  said,  however,  that  all  the 
officers  named  in  the  constitution,  and  provided  by  the  law,  arc  pro- 
nounced necessary  by  the  very  highest  authority,  and  can  under  no  cir- 
cumstances be  questioned,  and  whether  employed  or  not,  cannot  be  re- 
quired to  perform  any  other  duties  than  those  for  which  they  were 
elected.  Surely  this  will  strike  the  reflecting  mind  with  surprise.  The 
constitution  intended  to  provide  a  frame  of  government  for  those  on 
whom  it  was  to  operate.  It  was  necessarily  experimental.  The  offices 
authorized  were  doubtless  presumed  to  be  necessary ;  but  if  found  to 
be  otherwise,  why  should  those  appointed  to  fill  them  be  relieved  from 
the  performance  of  other  duties  required  by  the  wants  of  the  com- 
munity. Indeed,  I  lay  it  down  as  a  broad  proposition  that  no  person 
occupying  office  is  exempt  from  the  other  duties  of  a  citizen,  except 
on  thf  score  of  incompatibility.  I  ask  with  confidence,  why  should  a 
citizen  be  excused  from  other  obligations,  when  they  do  not  interfere 
with  the  performance  of  those  to  which  he]  is  specially  elected.  If  a 
man  can  perform  more  than  one  duty,  why  should  he  not  doit?  I 
whould  like  to  her  a  good  and  sufficient  reason  in  answer  to  this  inter- 
rogatory. It  would  be  a  great  reflection  upon  those  who  framed  the 
constitution,  to  suppose  that  they  intended  any  such  conclusion  ;  and 
in  the  absence  of  all  provisions  to  that  effect,  it  cannot  be  presumed. 
Nowhere  in  the  constitution  is  provision  made,  in  terms,  for  exemption. 
It  is  inferential  merely,  and  then  only  upon  the  ground  of  incompati- 
bility of  service.     The  same  remarks  will  apply  to  the  legislature. 

The  doctrine  contended  for  may  lead  to  the  most  fatal  results.  It 
all  the  officers  designated  in  the  constitution,  and  in  the  laws  made  in 


8  GOVERNOR  3    MESSAGE. 

pursuance  thereof,  are  to  be  exempted  because  they  are  state  officers — 
if  all  the  justices  of  the  peace,  wfco  by  the  bye  were  never  exempted 
until  the  1st  of  October  1862,  having  from  the  revolution  to  that  pe- 
riod been  required  to  perform  military  duty — if  all  sheriffs  and  clerks  and  , 
their  deputies — all  commissioners  of  the  revenue — all  surveyors  and 
commonwealth's  attorneys — all  constables  and  overseers  of  the  poor — 
all  county  agents  for  supplying  soldiers'  families — all  salt  agents,  com- 
mercial agents,  &c. — all  employees  of  banks,  cities,  towns,  &c.,  are  to 
be  exempt  indiscriminately,  and  without  reference  to  their  necessity, 
then  indeed,  in  the  language  of  the  decision  so  frequently  quoted,  "the 
spectacle  might  be  presented  of  a  nation  subjugated  and  distroyed  aJFa 
time  when  it  had  within  its  limits  citizens  amply  sufficient  to  defend  it 
against  all  the  assaults  of  its  enemies,  but  whose  services  could  not  be 
commanded,  because,  forsooth,  the  government  had  contracted  with 
them  that  they  should  not  be  required  to  serve  in  the  army."  So  far, 
in  this  state,  the  number  of  exempts  is  comparatively  small ;  but  in 
other  states  we  are  told  it  ts  widely  different.  At  this  time  a  powerful 
army  of  the  enemy  is  sweeping  over  the  state  of  Georgia,  in  which, 
under  the  doctrine  contended  for,  there  is  now  an  army  of  exempts — ex- 
empts because  officers  and  employees  of  the  state  government. 

At  this  time  the  pressure  of  the  service  inspires  a  very  common  de- 
sire to  escape  from  it ;  and  the  remedy  by  habeas  corpus,  designed  for 
extraordinary  acts  of  official  tyranny  or  individual  acts  of  oppression, 
is  daily  resorted  to,  to  extricate  the  citizen  from  the  holy  duty  of  de- 
fending the  country.  Lawyers  of  every  degree  hie  to  the  feast  thus 
spread  before  them,  and  judges  in  chambers  and  in  court  feel  con- 
strained to  apply  the  principles  of  the  writ  to  those  but  little  better 
than  moral  deserters  from  the  standard  of  their  country,  and  at  a  time 
too  when  she  is  struggling  in  a  death  grapple  with  her  gigantic  foe. 
But  do  the  judges  agree  among  themsleves  in  a  uniform  application  of 
the  same"principle.  In  North  Carolina  exemption  assumes  the  broadest 
form,  while  in  Alabama  a  much  narrower  rule  is  adopted — and  even  in 
Virginia  some  differences  exist.  But  all,  I  believe,  concur  that  the 
judges  have  the  right  to  pronounce  who  are  exempted  from  military 
duty  by  reason  of  their  office,  notwithstanding  the  legislature  and  the 
executive  may  entertain  a  different  opinion.  It  does  not  matter  what 
the  legislature  may  declare  by  law — it  does  not  matter  who  the  execu- 
tive may  deem  necessary  to  enable  him  to  see  the  laws  faithfully  exe- 
cuted— the  court  understands  better  than  their  coequal  and  eo-ordiimtc 


•governor's  message.  9 

departments,  what  is  necessary  to  presere  the  state  governments ! 
Against  this  I  enter  my  firm  yet  respectful  protest. 

The  2d  article  of  the  constitution  reads  as  follows  : 

"  The  legislative,  executive  and  judiciary  departments  shall  be  sepe- 
rate  and  distinct,  so  that  neither  exercise  the  powers  properly  belonging 
to  either  of  the  others ;  nor  shall  any  person  exercise  the  powers  of 
more  than  one  of  them  at  the  same  time,  except  that  justices  of 
the  peace  shall  be  eligible  to  either  house  of  assembly."  The  Mas- 
sachusetts constitution  still  more  emphatically  declares  that  "  in  the 
government  of  this  commonwealth  the  legislative  department  shall  never 
exercise  the  executive  and  judicial  powers,  or  either  of  them;  the  execu- 
tive shall  never  exercise  the  legislative  or  judicial  powers,  or  either  of 
them  ;  the  judicial  shall  never  exercise  the  executive  and  legislative  pow- 
ers or  either  of  them  :  to  the  end  that  it  may  be  a  government  of 
and  not  of  men."  Of  course,  all  intermixture  of  these  departments, 
except  as  provided  in  the  constitution,  must  be  in  violation  thereof. 
These  departments   are    co-ordinate.  h  is   supreme   and  ind 

dent  of  the  others  within  their  respective  spheres.  This  is  the  theory 
of  the  constitution  at  least;  and  it  is  the  universal  sentiment  of  the 
American  people,  that  their   compl  utial  to   public 

liberty.     The  Federalist  hai  '  the  accumulation  of  all 

powers,  legislative  executive  and  judicial,  in  the  same  hands,  whether 
of  one,  a  few  or  many,  and  wh  appointed  or  elec- 

tive, .nay  be  justly  ery  definition  of  tyranny."      Can  it 

be  then  that  the  judiciary  can  properly  prescribe  its  own  bounds  as  well 
as  those  of  its  co-ordhi:  .    Where  is  the  authority  for  i:  ? 

It  cannot  be  found  either  in  the  constitution  or  the  law — a  fact  conclu- 
sive against  the  jurisdiction  assumed.  I  know  the  general  semtiment  is 
otherwise,  anil  that  it  is  insisted   that  t:  tial,  and  must 

therefore  exist.      This,  I  submit,  is  ;  die  question,  and  cannot  be 

conceded.      Were   it  so,  then  tl  mdence  and   equality  of  the  de- 

partments would  no  Ion  .      The  power   in  one  to  give  law  to  the 

other,  demonstrates  this  too  clearly  to  require  argument. 

While,  however,  it  m  that  .the  judicial  department,  in 

the  1,'  .  is  the  to  the  constitution  as  to  all  ques- 

•  of  a  judicial  it    canno 

■\  of  political  qu  • 
treated   in    die   case   of  Luther  vs.  Bord 


10  governor's    . 

was  treated — and  it  was  declared  that  the  court  could  not  take  jurisdic- 
tion of  qustions  of  political  power.  For  instance,  that  it  was  the  right 
of  the  political  power  to  decide  which  was  the  rightful  constitution  of 
the  state  of  Rhode  Island — the  charter  or  that  known  as  the  Dorr-  con- 
stitution— that  it  was  not  a  judicial  question.  So,  it  was  conceded  that 
the  president  alone  had  the  right  to  decide  when  such  insurrection  or 
rebellion  existed  in  a  state  as  required  him  to  call  out  the  militia — that 
it  was  not  a  judicial  question.  So,  in  cases  of  contested  elections 
before  the  senate,  they  involved  a  question  of  political  power  to  be 
decided  by  that  body.  So  likewise,  in  case  of  a  treaty  or  the  recogni- 
tion of  foreign  nations,  tiny  involved  questions  of  political  power  over 
which  the  judiciary  could  not  take  jurisdiction.  I  respectfully  •  submit 
that  this  important   iis  should  be  taken  by  our  judges.     When 

the  legislature  declares  who  shall  be  subject  to  military  duty,  it  is  an 
act  of  political  power  with  which,  it  seems  to  me,  the  judiciary  should 
not  interfere.  And  when  the  executive,  to  whom  the  special  duty  is 
assigned  of  seeing  the  laws  faithfully  executed,  decides  that  a,  certain 
officer  or  employee  is  not  necessary,  it  is  an  act  of  political  power, 
which  should  equally  command  the  forbearance  of  the  courts.  It  was 
objected  in  the  case  just  quoted,  that  in  conceding  to  the  president  the 
decision  as  to  which  was  the  rightful  constitution  of  Rhode  Island,  it 
was  yielding  him  a  dangerous  power  which  might  be  abused.  The 
learned  judge  who  pronounced  the  opinion  of  the  court,  emphatically 
said  in  reply  :  "All  power  may  be  abused  if  placed  in  unworthy  hands; 
but  it  would  be  difficult,  we  think,  topojnt  out  any  other  hands  in  which 
this  power  would  be  more  safe,  and  at  the  same  time  equally  effectual." 
"At  all  events,  it  is  conferred  upon  him  by  the  constitution  and  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,  and  must  therefore  be  respected  and  enforced  in 
its  judicial  tribunals."  You,  gentleman,  can  apply  this  quotation. 
But  I  may  vbe  pardoned — as  the  several  departments  take  the  same 
oath  of  office,  that  of  fidelity  to  the  constitution,  and  are  all,  in  view 
of  the  constitution,  equally  honest,  capable  and  faithful — if  I  claim  for 
.  the  legislative  and  executive  departments  the  same  right  to  judge 
of  their  own  powers  that  is  exercised  by  the  judiciary  as  to  theirs.  This 
is  indispensable  to  preserve  the  equilibrium  of  the  several  departments — 
a  matter  of  the  last  importance,  as  upon  it  depends  the  preservation  of 
constitutional  liberty,  according  to  all  writers  upon  free  government. 
My  conclusions  then,  arc  that  the  several  departments  have  no  right  to 
define  the  political  powers  of  each  other ;  that  political  power  is  not  of 
a  judicial  nature  ;  that  there  is  no  authority  in  the  constitution  or  the 


11 

laws,  which  gives  to  the  judiciary  the  right  to  define  its  own  boundaries 
and  those  of  the  other,  branches  of  the  government ;  that  whatever 
may  be   the   n  of  having   a  tribunal   clothed  with   such  powers, 

none.has  been  provided,  and  cannot  be  provided  by  judicial  construc- 
tion;  that  the  right  on  the  part  of  the  several  departments  to  refuse  to 
co-operate  in  the  unconstttuti  assures  of  each   other,  of  which 

each   has   .  .is   eminently  proper,  healthful   in 

action,  and  well  calculated  to  preserve  intact  that  division  of  powers 
guaranteed  in   the  second  articl  i  constitution.     That  the  consti- 

tution contains  no  exception,  confers  no  privilege,  except  "in  conside- 
ration of  publl  that  election  to  office  does  not  protect  any 
man  against  other  duties,  except  so  far  as  they  may  be  in  conflict  with 
these  to  which  he  was  elected  ;  that,  in  the  language  of  the  court  of  ap- 
peals, "the  obligation  of  the  citizen  to  render  military  service  is  a  para- 
mount, social  and  political  duty,"  from  which  no  man  can  be  discharged 
except  on  account  of  his  civil  duties,  and  only  to  the  extent  required 
by  such  duties  ;  that  military*  servic  matter  in  which  the  whole 
body  politic  is  interested;"  that  "the  citizens  have  a  right  collectively 
and  individually  to  the  service  of  each  other,  to  avert  any  danger  which 
may  be  menaced,"  of  which  they  cannot  lawfully,  and  ought,  not  to  be 
deprived  by  any  authority  whatever.  And  I  here,  in  the  name  of  pa- 
triotism ;  of  our  manhood;  of  our  dear  old  state,  rent  and  torn  by  a 
vandal  i\)o,  and  of  our  bleeding  country,  protest  firmly  but  respectfully 
against  the  entire  doctrine,  which  would  give  to  able  bodied  men  the 
legal  right  to  walk  abroad  •  untouched  amid  the  general  suffering  and 
desolation. 

I  have  uniformly  acted  upon  the  principle,  that  the  state  government 
had  an  inherent  right  of  self-preservation,  which  involved  the  right  to 
all  the  officers  and  employees,  of  every  description,  necessary  thereto. 
I  have  never  hesitated  to  claim  ail  such  persons,  and  to  assert  a  right 
to  judge  for  myself  as  to  the  necessity  of  such  persons,  as  against  the 
confederate  government.  I  understand  this  principle  to  have  been 
broadly  conceded  by  the  act  of  congress  of  the  17th  of  February  1864. 
This  act  did  not  undertake  to  grant  power  to  the  governor  tates, 

who  could  not  ace         |  n  such  a  source,  even  had  such  been  the 

li  of  the  act.  lint  t  repeat,  I  do  not  understand  it  to  have  had 
any  such  purpose  in  view.  The  certificate  spoken  of  in  the  act  was 
merely  designed  to  obtain  information  of  the  governors  of  the  states, 
of  the -persons  clai  -    as  their   officers   and  employees; 

ach  certificates  are  very  properly  conceded  by  that  act  to  be  con- 


12  governor's  .message. 

elusive  upon  the  confederate  authorities.  Recognizing  in  the  confede- 
rate government  the  riglif  to  the  whole  military  power  of  the  states, 
except  to  the  extent  of  such  persons  as  are  necessary  to  the  prcserva- 
tion  of  the  state  government,  and  the  execution  of  her  laws,  I  .have 
uniformly  confined  my  certificates  of  exemption  or  claim  to  such  per- 
sons as  I  regarded  necessary  therefor.  Injjthe  case  of  justices  of  the 
peace,  I  did  not  and  do  not  believe  that  the  number  authorized  by  law 
was  necessary  to  the  execution  of  the  duties  imposed  upon  them.  I 
know  perfectly  well. that  three,  instead  of  four,  are  amply  sufficient  for 
all  the  purposes  of  the  state;  and  I  aimed,  a  iral  rule,  to  confine 

myself  to  that  number.     1  ight  of  all,  however,  to  be 

commissioned:  and  deeming  such  to  be  my  constitutional  duty,  com- 
missioned those  who  had  been  only  elected  by  the  people,    . 

It  is  not  a  little  curious  that  justices  of  th  'it  least  from  the 

first  revolution  up  to  the  present  one,  have  never  been  regarded  other- 
wise than  subject  to  military  service.  They  have  been  treated  Uniformly 
as   a  part  of  the    militia.      The  '      |        first   revolution :  they 

fought  in  the  year  1812:  they  mustered  at  cross  roads  and  other  places 
of  meeting;  and  the  exempting  favor  of  the  legislature  never  reached 
them  until  the  1st  of  October  1 802.  It  is  strange  that,  in  the  mid 
a  deadly  struggle,  your  predecessors  should  have  deemed  it  proper  for 
the  first  time  to  protect  these  gentlemen  from  military  service,  pro- 
nounced by  the  highest  judicial  authority  of  this  state  to  be  "a  para- 
mount social  and  political  •■  It  is  also  strange  that  for  the  first 
time  it  should  be  treated,  as  a  judicial  i,  and  that  our  judges 
should  likewise  concur  in  pronouncing  them  exempt  from  military 
service,  and  that  too  notwithstanding  the  same  high  authority  to  which 
I  have  just  referred,  has  pronounced  military  service  "a  matter  in  which 
the  whole  body  politic  is  interested;'' 

But  so  it  is;  and  yielding  to  the  force  of  this  combined  opinion,  I 
respectful!}'  suggest  for  your  consideration  the  passage  of  a  law  which 
will  diminish  the  number  of  these  officers,  and  restrict  their  selection 
to  persons  of  an  age  usually  beyond  the  period  of  military  service,  ; 
propose  the  pai  a  law  diminishing  the  number  of  the  districts  in 

the  several  counties,  and  confining  the  election  of  magistrates  to  persons 
over  forty-five  years  of  age.  There  is  no  question  of  your  power  to 
enact  such  a  law — there  is  no  doubt  of,  its  giving  great  satisfaction  to 
the  people;  and  the  discreditable  efforts  which  were  made  in  certain  lo- 
calities, by  hale  and  hearty  young  men,  to   obtain  their   election   as 


governor's  message.  18 

justices  of  the  peace,  thereby  to  secure  their  exemption  from  the  honor 
of  defending  their  country,  would  no  longer  reflect  upon  the  patriotism 
of  our  people.  But  many  of  our  best  citizens  are  unwilling  to  yield 
any.  of  our  state  officers  or  employees  to  the  claims  of  the  confederate 
government.  They  are  entirely  willing  to  see  such  'persons  embodied 
in  a  state  force,  to  be  calle^  out  on  great  emergencies,  because  under 
state  authority  they  can  be  returned  to  their  civil  functions  as  soon  as 
the  emergency  shall  have  passed.  Apart  from  the  great  principle  of 
the  salus  populi,  they  insist  that  it  is  entirely  in  the  power  of  the  legis- 
lature to  embody  the  state  officers,  &c,  as  an  auxiliary  force,  under  the 
circumstances  to  which  I  have  referred.  In  Georgia  this  principle  is 
acted  upon,  and  under  it  Governor  Brown  has  been  enabled  to  cm- 
body  an  army  of  considerable  size,  which  has  rendered  and  is  rendering 
valuable  service  in  the  campaign  in  his  great  state.  In  Mississippi  the 
same  doctrine  prevails  with  the  like  results,  in  which,  indeed,  the  p 
is  claimed,  without  question  by  the  judiciary,  to  assign  supernumerary 
state  officers  to  the  confederate  service.  In  an  act  passed  by  the  general 
ably  of  that  state  on  the  13th  of  August  1864,  the  preamble  there- 
to reads  as  follow 

"Whereas,  in  the  present  situation  of  affairs,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
the  proper  administration  of  the  state  government,  that  the  officers, 
members  and  agents  hereinafter  named,  shall  be  held  exempted  from  the 
military  service  of  the  Confederate  States;  and,  in  the  absence  of  such 
necessity,  the  state  is  willing  to  waive  her  rights  in  the  premises  to  all 
officers,  members  and  agents  not  named  in  the  constitution,  and  not  ne- 
ary  to  the  preservation  of  our  form  of  government.'' 

This  preamble  fully  recognizes  the  policy  for  which  I  have  been 
arguing;  and  in  giving  up  a  part  of  her  state  officers,  the  state  impliedly 
asserts  a  right  to  do  so  with  all,  under  the  qualification  stated.  Should 
it  not  be  the  pleasure,  however,  of  the  legislature  to  adopt  my  views,  I 
respectfully  urge,  in  this  dark  hour  of  our  fortunes,  that,  the  entire 
male  population  of  our  state  may  be  embodied  for  the  purpose  of  co- 
operating in  our  great  struggle.  The  second  class  militia,  authorized 
under  a  special  act,  restricted  in  its  operations  to  a  few  localities,  has 
been  of  great  advantage,  and  has  rendered  most  efficient  service.  Per- 
haps no  regular  force  in  the  army  has  performed  more  arduous  duty, 
since  the  6th  of  May,  than  those  portions  of  it,  including  the  19th  Vir- 
ginia militia,  organized  in  the  cities  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg. 

In  consequence  of  the  frequent  and  extensive   raids  of  the  enemy, 


14  governor's  message. 

often  in  small  parties,  and  the  great  destruction  and  outrages  per- 
petrated by  them,  it  has  become  indispensable  to  organize  our  whole 
male  population.  Were  such  an  organization  made,  even  of  the  force 
now  left  at  home,  the  country  would  be  saved  from  the  ravages  which 
lay  waste  our  I  rtainly  to  a  large  extent ;  and  the  enemy,  who 

respects  in  no  degree  the  laws  of  civilized^ar,  sparing  neither  age  nor 
sex,  would  be  compelled  to  contract  his  line  of  march,  move  in  larger 
masses,  and  range  over  a  much  more  limited  amount  of  our  territory. 
I  most  respectfully  submit  a  bill  for  your  consideration,  designed  to 
provide  for  this  important  object. 

1st.  It  proposes  that  the  reserve  force  of  the  state  should  be  organ- 
ized by  the  governor,  and  when  completed,  to  be  reported  to  the  assem- 
bly for  such  change  as  it  may  see  fit  to  make. 

2d.  That  the  governor  shall  not  move  said  force  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  state. 

3d.  That  no  portion  of  such  force  shall  be  called  out  for  a  longer 
period  than  thirty  days. 

4th.  When  practicable,  said  force  shall  be  assigned  to  duty  in  the 
several*  counties  from  which  it  may  be  drawn. 

5th.  The  particular  duties  to  which  this  force  may  be  assigned,  are 
designated. 

6th.  That  the  county  court  and  county  officers  shall  aid  in  the  en- 
rolment. 

7th.  That  the  governor  shall  provide  for  the  proper  discipline  and 
order  of  said  force. 

8th.  This  bill  being  a  war  measure,  it  is  proposed  that  it  shall  ex- 
pire with  the  proclamation  of  peace,  only  suspending  in  the  mean  time 
the  general  militia  law. 

It  will  be  observed  that  this  bill  asks  for  no  appropriations,  nor  for 
commissaries  or  quartermasters.  My  plan  is  to  make  an  arrangement 
with  the  secretary -of  war  to  pay  off  such  portion  of  the  reserved  force 
as  may  be  called  out,  when' its  particular  service  is  ended,  by  marching 
it  to  the  post  quartermaster  of  its  county  for  that  purpose,  who  would 
be  instructed  accordingly ;  and  my  purpose  would  be,  when  necessary, 
to  appoint  respectable  old  gentlemen  quartermasters  and  commissaries 
for  the  particular  occasion,  and  for  them  to  settle  up  any  accounts  tin  v 


governor's  ml.   a  15 

may  have  created  with  the  post  quartermaster,  and  be  likewise  paid  off, 
thus  closing  up  the  transaction  without  perplexity  or  delay,  and  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  doubtless  of  both  the  government  and  people. 

Many  of  the  citizens  of  Virginia  were  in  other  states  and  countries 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war.     Not  a  few  of  them  returned   to  join   in 
her  defence  and  to    hare  his  fate,  and  some  have  sealed  with  their  blood 
their  patriotic  devotion  to  our  beloved  commonwealth.    A  record  should 
be  made  of  sueh,  as  an  evidence  of  our  high  appreciation  of  their  con- 
duct, and  transmitted  I  ity.     But  I  regret    to   inform   you   that 
many  who  owe  loyalty  to  i  u  are  still   absel  .  i  of  their 
duty  in  the  terrible  struggle  in  which  we  are                1.     Many  ha\ 
since   the   beginning  of  the   war,  leaving  their   lam'. 
behind  them.      It  is  doing  no  injustii  that 
their  purp                                              tands  of  mili                               I   that 
they  leave  their  families  with  ua  as  the  meai  -                                 ir  pro- 
perty.    Shall  such   unworthy  and   treasonable  policy  succeed?     Shall 
such  men,  aband             the  holiest  and  nob: 
fendii                                        ,pe  without   penalty. 

1  by  our  laws  and  arms  until,  under  id 
pitious  circumstances,  they  can  return  to  it  ?     I  imend 

the  passage  of  a  law  authorizing  the  issue  of  a  proclamation  Warning 
all  cil  jinia  now  in  foreign  parts  to  return  without  delay  to 

the  st;  ling  in  which.  onal  penalties,  their  property  of 

every  description  should  be  cod  and  their  families  sent  into  the 

y's  lines. 

There  are  some  persons  whose  fidelity  to  the  state  is  much  questioned, 
and  who,  if  arrested,  can   rarely  be  convicted  in   consequence  of  the 
ulty  of  having  the  testimony  present  when  the  'lay  of  trial  arrives. 
They  very  generally  escape  from  want  of  evidence,    •  ,  there  is 

iurance  of  their  guilt.  I  hope  that  you  will  give 
the  subject  your  attention,  and  pass  such  a  law  as  this  condition  of 
things  requires.     In  this  connection,  I  would  i  I  attention 

to  the  Code,  p  .  in  reference  to  the  arrest  of  suspicious  persons. 

The  sixth  section  should  be  enlarged,  so  as  to  foreigners 

:  ■■  well  as  citizens,  with  authority  to  remove  such  aa  may  he   thought 
fit,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  state.     There  is  a  great  i 
such  measure,  and  I  hope  it  will  engage  your  early  attention. 

Our  i\-':e  negroes  are  ve  riy  of  them   d  dis- 

loyal.    In  the  towns,  ami  especially  in  the  ci  .  they  are 


16  governor's  message. 

guilty  of  many  outrages  upon  persons  and  property,  full  proof  of  which 
it  is  difficult  to  procure.  They  sometimes  are  found  co-operating  with 
the  enemy,  and  occasionally  indulging  in  the  utterance  of  treasonable 
sentiments  and  threats  against  our  fellow-citizens.  The  laws  are  inade- 
quate to  their  proper  management,  and  will,  I  hope,  be  made  to  cover 
such  cases. 

When  this  war  began,  it  was  confidently  believed  by  Our  enemy  that 
it  would  be  of  short  duration.  Relying  upon  his  vast  superiority  in 
numbers  and  material  of  war,  he  expected  to  overrun  us  with  facility 
and  ease.  But  the  result  of  a  single  year's  operations  corrected  this 
expectation,  and  impressed  him  with  the  conclusion  that  he  had  on  hand 
a  contest  of  great  magnitude — full  of  danger  and  difficulty.  Having 
soon  exhausted  his  floating  population,  he  openly  recruited  his  armies 
on  the  continent  of  Europe.  Not  satisfied  with  this,  he  seized  our 
slaves,  and,  in  violation  of  all  civilized  war,  armed  them  against  us. 
Under  every  disadvantage,  the  war  has  been  protracted  deep  into  its 
fourth  year,  and  we  find  ourselves  looking  around  for  material  to  en- 
large our  armies.  ,  Whence  is  it  to  come  ?  The  laws  of  natural  accre- 
tion will  hot  furnish  a  sufficient  supply  of  men.  Foreign  countries  are, 
in  effect,  closed  against  us.  Recruiting  from  the  prisoners  we  capture 
will  not,  except  to  a  limited  extent,  supply  our  wants ;  and  the  public 
attention  naturally  turns  to  our  own  slaves  as  a  ready  and  abundant  stock 
from  which  to  draw.  This  policy,  however,  has  given  rise  to  great  diver- 
sity of  opinion.  Some  consider  it  as  giving  up  the  institution  of  slavery. 
Others  declare  that  to  put  our  slaves  in  the  ranks  will  drive  our  fellow- 
citizens  from  them,  and  diffuse  dissatisfaction  throughout  the  country. 
In  reply,  it  is  said  that  this  policy  will  effectually  silence  the  clamor  of 
the  poor  man  about  this  being  the  rich  man's  war  ;  that  there  is  no 
purpose  to  mingle  the  two  races  in  the  same  ranks,  and  that  there  can- 
not be  a  reasonable  objection  to  fighting  the  enemy's  negroes  with  our 
own  ;  that  as  to  the  abandonment  of  slavery,  it  is  already  proclaimed 
to  be  at  an  end  by  the  enemy,  and  will  undoubtedly  be  so  if  we  are 
subjugated,  and  that  by  making  it  aid  in  our  defence,  it  will  improve 
the  chance  of  preserving  it. 

This  is  a  grave  and  important  question,  and  full  of  difficulty.  All 
agree  in  the  propriety  of  using  our  slaves  in  the  various  menial  c;nplo}r- 
ments  of  the  army,  and  as  sappers  and  miners  and  pioneers;  but  much 
diversity  exist  as  to  the  propriety  of  using  them  as  soldiers  now.  All 
agree  that  when  fchi  ion  becomes  one  of  liberty  and  ind 


governor's  message.  17 

on  the  one  hand,  or  subjugation  on  the  other,  that  every  means  within 
our  reach  should  be  used  to  aid  in  our  struggle,  and  to  baffle  and  thwart 
our  enemy.  I  say  every  man  will  agree  to  this  ;  no  man  would  hesitate. 
Even  if  the  result  were  to  emancipate  our  slaves,  there  is  not  a  man 
that  would  not  cheerfully  put  the  negro  into  the  army  rather  than  be- 
come a  slave  himself  to  our  hated  and  vindictive  foe.  It  is,  then,  sim- 
ply a  question  of  time.  Has  the  time  arrived  when  this  issue  is  fairly 
before  us?  Is  it  indeed  liberty  and  independence  or  subjugation  which 
is  presented  to  us  ?  A  man  must  be  blind  to  current  events — to  the 
gfgantic  proportions  of  this  Avar — to  the  proclamations  of  the  enemy — 
who  does  not  see  that  the  issue  above  referred  to  is  presented  noiv. 
And,  I  repeat,  the  only  question  is,  has  the  time  arrived?  Are  we  able, 
beyond  a  question,  to  wage  successful  war  against  a  power  three  times 
our  own  in  numbers,  with  all  Europe  from  which  to  recruit,  and  who  un- 
hesitatingly put  arms  in  the  hands  of  our  own  negroes  for  our  destruc- 
tion? I  will  not  say,  that  under  the  Providence  of  God,  we  may  not 
be  able  to  triumph,  but  I  do  say  that  we  .-In mid  not  from  [any  mawkish 
sensibility,  refuse  any  means  within  our  reach  which  will  tend  to  enable 
us  to  work  out  our  deliverence.  For  my  part,  standing  before  God 
and  my  country,  1  do  not  hesitate  to  say  "that  I  would  arm  such  portion 
of  our  able-bodied  slave  population  as  may  be  necessary,  and  put  them 
in  the  field,  so  as  to  have  them  ready  for  the  spring  campaign,  even  if 
it  resulted  in  the  freedom  of  those'thus  organized.  Will  I  not  employ 
them  to  light  the  negro  force  cf  the  enemy  ?  yea,  the  yankees  them- 
selves, who  already  boast  that  they  have  two  hundred  thousand  of  our 
slaves  inarms  against  us?  (Jan  we  hesitate — can  we  doubt — when  the 
question  is,  whether  our  enemy  shall  use  our  slaves  against  us,  or  we 
use  them  against  him — when  the  question  may  be  between  liberty  and  in- 
dependence on  the  one  hand,  or  subjugation  and  utter  ruin  on  the  other. 

In  the  meeting  of  the  governors  the  following  resolutions  upon  this 
subject  were  unanimously  adopted  : 

"  And  whereas  the  public  enemy  having  proclaimed  the  freedom  of 
our  slaves,  are  forcing  into  their  armies  the  able-bodied  portion  thereof, 
the  more  effectually  to  wage  their  cruel  and  bloody  war  against  us: 
Therefore, 

Be  it  resolved,   That   it   is   the   true   policy  and  obvious   duty  of  all 

slave  owners  timely  to  remove  their  slaves  from  the  line  of  the  enemy's 

approach,  and  especially  those  able  to  bear  arms  ;  and  when  they  shall 

fail  to  do  so,  that  it  should  be  made   the  duty  of  the  proper  authorities 

3 


18  governor's  message. 

to  enforce  the  performance  of  this  duty,  and  to  give  to  such  owners  "all 
necessary  assistance  as  far  as  practicable. 

Resolved,  That  the  course  of  the  enemy,  in  appropriating  our  slaves 
•who  happen  to  fall  into  their  hands,  to  purposes  of  war,  seems  to  justify 
a  change  of  policy  on  our  part ;  and  whilst  owners  of  slaves,  under  the 
circumstances,  should  freely  yield  them  to  their  country,  we  recommend 
to  our  authorities,  under  proper  regulations,  to  appropriate  such  part  of 
them  to  the  public  service  as  may  be  required." 

The  object  of  these  resolutions,  as  understood  by  me,  was  to  call  pub- 
lic attention  to  the  consideration  of  the  policy  of  bringing  our  slaves 
into  this  war.  It  seems  that  "a  change  of  policy  on  our  part"  was 
contemplated  ;  and  we  determine,  in  reference  to  our  slaves,  to  "  re- 
commend to  our  authorities,  under  proper  regulations,  to  appropriate 
such  part  of  them  to  the  public  service  as  may  be  required. 

I  am  aware  that  a  clamor  has  been  raised  against  the  policy  of  put- 
ting the  negroes  into  the  army,  by  good  and  loyal  men,  because,  they 
say,  "the  end  is  not  yet" — that  our  army  of  citizen  soldiers  is  still 
competent  to  make  good' our  defence.  No  one  would  advocate  the  policy 
of  thus  appropriating  our  slaves,  except  as  a  matter  of  urgent  necessity; 
but,  as  public  opinion  is  widely  divided  on  this  subject,  does  not  com- 
mon prudence  require  us  to  fear  that  those  opposed  to  this  extreme 
measure  may  be  mistaken  ?  Suppose  it  should  so  turn  out,  how  deep 
would  be  their  responsibility  to  the  country,  to  freedom  and  indepen- 
dence everywhere  ?  I  know  it  is  the  opinion  of  some  of  the  highest 
military  authorities  that  the  time  has  come  when  we  should  call  our 
slaves  to  our  assistance;  and  I  hold  it  to  be  clearly  the  duty  of  every 
citizen,  however  much  he  may  doubt  the  wisdom  and  necessity  of  the 
policy,  to  co-operate  in  strengthening  by  every  means  our  armies.  I 
repeat,  I  know  this  policy  is  looked  to  with  anxiety  by  some  of  the  ablest 
military  men  of  the  age,  who  believe  that  it  is  of  the  last  importance 
that  it  should  be  adopted  without  delay.  I  therefore  earnestly  recom- 
mend to  the  legislature  that  they  should  give  this  subject  early  conside- 
ration, and  enact  such  measures  as  their  wisdom  may  approve. 

As  an  additional  auxiliary  to  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  war, 
I  deem  it  of  the  gravest  consequence  that  our  currency  should  be  im- 
proved. I  am  entirely  satisfied  that  it  may  be  effected.  With  the  great 
staples  at  our  command,  as  the  basis  of  such  purchases  abroad  as  arc 
necessary  to  our  defence,  with  a  judicious  system' of  taxation  and  pub- 
lic credit,  the  blunders  of  the  past  may  be  speedily  reformed,  and  the 


QOVBRNOa'S    MESSAGE.  19 

public  confidence  assuredly  revived.  I  bring  this  subject  to  your  con- 
sideration, as  you  may  promote  the  policy  of  improving  the  currency, 
by  lending  the  aid  of  co-operative  legislation  to.  that  of  the  confederate 
government. 

There  is  a  measure  now  pending  before  congress,  proposing  to  reduce 
the  currency  by  the  issue  of  tithe  certificates,  in  effect  pledging  the 
tithes  in  cotton,  wheat  and  corn  to  the  redemption  of  Mich  certificates 
and  continuing  the  tax  in  kind,  after  the  war  shall  terminate,  until  they 
shall  be  fully  paid  oil'  and  discharged.  The  security  must  necessarily 
be  ample,  and  all  persons,  not  needing  the  currency  for  immediate  use, 
will  find  such  investment  a  most  judicious  one. 

The  legislation,  I  would  suggest,  is  in  aid  of  that  policy,  and  I  sub- 
mit the  following  plan  for  your  consideration:  Let  the  state  go  into  the 
market  and  purchase  up  the  currency  at  its  market  value  for  gold — say 
twenty  in  currency  for  one  of  gold.  The  effect  of  this  would  be  to  re- 
duce the  price  of  gold  at  once  to  that  standard  as  a  maximum,  which 
would  necessarily  invole  a  reduction  in  the  prices  of  all  commodities, 
thereby  securing  a  general  benefit  to  every  individual  in  the  community. 

The  question  will  naturally  be  asked,  how  is  the  gold  to  be  obtained? 
The  reply  is  easy.  It  is  known  that  our  state  banks  have  a  large 
amount  of  specie  on  hand  entirely  unproductive,  not  even  contributing 
to  Bustain  their  credit,  and  a  source  of  constant  anxiety  to  the  officers 
in  charge  of  them.  In  this  state  of  things,  the  banks,  I  have  no  doubt, 
would  cheerfully  surrender  their  specie  to  the  state,  upon  her  obligation 
to  return  it  at  the  end  of  the  war,  and  the  assignment  of  the  tax  in  kind 
certificates  of  the  confederate  government  issued  to  the  state  from  time  to 
time  for  the  currency  which  shemiglfr  acquire.  The  faith  of  the  state, 
with  this  collateral  security,  would.  I  am  persuaded,  be  entirely  accepta- 
ble to  the  banks  under  the  circumstances  which  imperil  us.  -Should  we 
triumph  in  our  present  struggle,  which  I  doubt  not,  the  security  would 
be  ample  ;  and  should  we  fail,  of  course  the  security  would  be  valueless, 
and  ail  would  be  lost,  except  in  the  diffusive  benefit  to  the  people  from 
the  circulation  of  the  coin  now  excluded  from  all  useful  purposes. 

It  is  no  objection  that  this  measure  may  not  be  adopted  by  the  other 
states.  Its  wisdom  is  -so  obvious  that  it  is  hardly  to  be  presumed  that 
they  will  refuse  to  co-operate.  But  happily/  it  is  a  measure  that  must 
be  highly  beneficial  to  the  state  which  engages  in  it,  even  if  alone, 
while  it  would  tend  to  aid  the  important  effort  to  reduce  and  improve 
the  currency.     I  will  not   dwell  upon  this  subject,  but  believing  it  a 


20  OOVERNOE  S    MESSAGE. 

measure  of  great  importance,  well  calculated  to  aid  in  the  public  de- 
fence, as  well  as  beneficial  to  the  state  and  people  thereof,  I  ask  for  it 
your  careful  consideration. 

Allow  me,  gentlemen,  particularly  to  commend  to  your  favorable  con- 
sideration the  absolute  necessity  of  regulating  prices.  I  know  this 
policy  is  destined  to  meet  a  stout  resistance;  but  fully  impressed  with 
its  great  importance,  under  existing  circumstances,  I  may  be  pardoned, 
I  hope,  for  pressing  it  upon  your  attention. 

I  felt  myself  at  liberty,  shortly  after  your  adjournment,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  failure  of  the  bill  making  an  appropriation  to  engage  in 
the  acquisition  of  supplies,  for  want  of  a  constitutional,  not  a  numer- 
ical majority,  under  the  crying  necessities  and  sufferings  of  the  people 
for  bread,  &c,  to  use  such  portion  of  the  contingent  funds  under  my 
control  as  would  partially  relieve  their  wants.  With  this  fund,  and 
means  otherwise  acquired,  I  engaged  in  this  business,  and  am  gratified 
to  believe  that  I  contributed  a  considerable  amount  of  relief  to  the  des- 
titute families  of  soldiers  and  other  suffering  poor.  Among  the  articles 
purchased  was  about  three  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  rice.  At  the 
time  I  got  it  to  this  market  the  retail  price  of  the  grocers  was  two  dol- 
lars and  a  half  per  pound.  This  price,  extortionate  in  a  high  degree, 
was  the  practical  result  of  untrammeled  competition  under  the  laws  of 
trade.  By  my  purchase  I  was  enabled  to  put  it  upon  the  market,  under 
certain  restrictions  as  to  the  quantity  to  be  purchased,  at  fifty  cents  per 
pound,  which'  covered  the  cost  and  all  cxpcns.es,  including  a  small  ad- 
vance to  provide  against  accidental  losses.  This  involves  the  principle 
of  the  maximum.  The  same  result  occurred  in  the  corn  I  bought  and 
distributed.  I  sold  one  large  lot  at  fifteen  dollars  a  bushel,  even  send- 
in"-  a  considerable  quantity  to  the  county  of  Tazewell.  I  mention 
these  facts. as  practical  illustrations  of  the  value  of  the  measure  I  urge 
upon  your  consideration. 

Having,  however,  discussed  this  question  in  my  inaugural  message,  I 
content  myself  by  making  an  extract  therefrom,  with  the  single  re- 
mark, that  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  the  legislature  to  appropriate  the 
requisite  sums,  I  can  no  doubt  place  supplies  here  which  will  greatly 
reduce  their  present  market  value,  and  protect  our  suffering  state  from 
the  danger  of  absolute  starvation : 

"While,  however,  the  people  of  the  state  have  acquiesced  in  the 
prices  fixed  by  the  public  commissioners,  others  have  been  unwilling  to 
accept  them,  in  consequence  of  higher  prices  being  offered  by  specula- 


governor's  message.  21 

tors  and  others.  This  very  naturally  produces  discontent  on  the  part 
of  the  more  liberal  and  patriotic  portion  of  the  people,  while  others 
resort  to  hoarding,  hiding  and  other  disreputable  shifts  and  evasions,  to 
avoid  their  contribution  to  the  support  of  our  gallant  army.  This  state 
of  things  is  very  demoralizing,  and  may,  I  think,  be  easily  corrected 
by  the  establishment  of  a  state  maximum,  which,  taking  the  confederate 
maximum  as  a  basis,  shall  be  extended  to  all  the  productions  of  human 
industry. 

"I  know  that  this  proposition  has  always  met  with  the  most  de- 
termined opposition,  and  yet  it  has  always  prevailed  in  times  of  public 
trouble.  I  know  it  is  said  that  France  tried,  and  France  gave  up  this 
policy.  And  yet  she  first  tried  it  upon  corn,  then  enlarged  it,  but  never 
made  it  general,  adhered  to  it  through  all  the  dark  hours  of  her  revo- 
lution, when  she  was  rent  by  intestine  dissensions,  and  engaged  in  war 
with  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  never  abandoned  it  until  she  had  re- 
sumed a  specie  currency,  composed  her  intestine  feuds,  and  brought 
continental  Europe  to  her  feet.  What  occasion  had  France  to  adhere 
to  this  policy,  when  she  fed  her  armies  from  the  stores  of  other  nations, 
and  replenished  her  treasury  by  contributions  upon  them? 

"  But  it  is  the  duty  of  wisdom  to  comprehend  the  force  of  circum- 
stances. What  is  our  situation  ?  We  are  cut  off  from  the  world  by 
our  enemies,  insulated  as  completely  as  if  we  were  on  an  island  in  mid- 
ocean,  and  no  productions  from  abroad,  like  tie  I  by  us,  are  al- 
lowed to  come  in  competition  with  our  own.  Can  it  b  led,  with 
any  proprii  ty,  thai  there  can  be,  in  such  a  state  of  things,  a  market 
price  for  commodities  in  the  sense  of  the  economists  ':  Again,  the  sup- 
ply of  our  own  productions  is  inadequate  for  a  liberal  consumption. 
Bread,  meat,  shoes,  cotton  and  woolen  cloths,  are  painful  illustrations 
of  this  stern  fact ;  and  I  ask,  where  is  the  competition  to  be  found  which 
is  to  put  these  articles  within  easy  reach  of  the  naked  and  the  hungry  ? 
It  is  sometimes  said,  that  it  is  the  currency  which  causes  this  great  ex- 
aggeration of  prices.  To  some  extent,  this  may  bo  so.  But  where  the 
supply  of  actual  necessaries  is  deficient,  and  the  price  of  them  is  fixed 
by  the  conscience  of  the  seller  alone,  the  currency  is  of  but  little  signifi- 
cance ;  the  hungry  must  be  fed,  and  the  seller  knows  it ;  ami  the  price 
must  be  paid,  in  whatever  currency  required. 

"Nor  is  the  maximum  unknown  in  daily  life.  It  was  the  law,  that 
the  person  who  took  out  a  license  as  a  tavern  keeper  should  keep  proper 
accommodations  for  the  traveler,  and  then  should  not  charge  him  for 


22  GOVERNORS    MESSAGE. 

meals  at  pleasure,  but  only  the  rates  fixed  by  the  county  courts.  So  in 
the  cases  of  bridges  and  ferries,  where  the  prices  are  fixed  by  law.  But 
there  is  a  very  remarkable  case  of  maximum  which  seems  to  have  es- 
caped general  observation — I  mean  interest  upon  money.  No  lender 
shall  take  more  than  six  dollars  for  the  loan  of  one  hundred  dollars  for 
one  year.  Should  the  lender  bargain  for  more,  the  contract  is  void.  If 
he  takes  more,  he  forfeits  double  the  sum  loaned.  Here  is  a  maximum 
of  great  antiquity,  on  money,  the  token  or  representative  of  all  pro- 
perty; and  yet  it  is  not  proper  to  set  a  maximum  on  the  property  so 
represented ! 

''That  the  law  of  maximum  will  be  difficult  to  enforce,  I  readily  ad- 
mit. So  is  the  whole  criminal  code.  So  is  the  law  which  forbids  the 
loan  of  money  at  more  than  legal  interest.  So  is  that  bright,  hopeful 
and  glorious  plan  of  salvation  for  which  a  Saviour  died.  But  shall  we, 
for  such  reasons,  abandon  our  efforts  to  reform,  benefit  and  save  man- 
kind ? 

"But  the  maximum  would  have  other  important  advantages.  It  would 
put  an  end  to  discontent  among  the  people ;  it  would  extinguish  the 
practice  of  hoarding  and  hiding.  Without  any  hope  of  increasing 
prices,  producers  would  cheerfully  furnish  to  consumers  'their  surplus. 
Uniformity  of  price  and  the  application  of  the  maximum  to  all  things 
would,  I  am  persuaded,  inspire  general  satisfaction,  and  relieve  the 
necessary  duty  of  collecting,  supplies  for  the  army  of  that  irritation 
which  has  heretofore,  in  many  cases,  made  the  duty  most  unpleasant, 
and  restore  those  kind  and  agreeable  relations  which  should  always  ex- 
ist between  the  people  and  their  government.  Surely,  when  such  must 
be  the  happy  consequence  of  this  measure,  the  states  will  speedily 
adopt  it." 

The  act  entitled  an  act  to  provide  for  the  purchase,  and  distribution 
anion"-  the  people  of  the  state  of  cotton,  cotton  yarns,  cotton  cloths 
and  hand  cards,  passed  March  9th,  1864,  was  put  in  operation  shortly 
after  your  adjournment,  by  the  appointment  of  S.  Bassett  French, 
Esq.,  as  commercial  agent.  It  was  somewhat  delayed  by  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  a  suitable  agent,  not  a  single  application  for  the  agency 
having  been  made,  in  consequence,  chiefly,  of  the  large  amount  for 
which  a  bond  was  required,  and  I  was  compelled  to  press  it  upon  Colonel 
French,  then  acting  as  my  aid. 

The  agency,  although  very  much  embarrassed  for  the  want  of  trans- 
portation, and  restricted  in  the  extent  of   its  operations/has  been  a 


governor's  message.  2-\ 

source  of  very  great  relief  to  the  people.  Its  operations,  limited  as  they 
have  been,  have  had  a  decided  effect  upon  the  markets,  of  the  articles 
in  which  it  dealt.  It  has  saved  thousands  of  dollars  to  the  people,  and 
greatly  improved  their  comforts.  The  report  of  the  agency,  which  will 
soon  be  laid  before  you,  will  be  a  powerful  argument  in  favor  of  a  maxi- 
mum, inasmuch  as  they  have,  to  a  very  large  extent,  prevented  the 
shameless  extortion  practiced  upon  our  fellow-citizens  in  the  enumerated 
articles,  clearly  demonstrating  its  necessity,  or  the  appropriation  of 
large  sums  for  the  purchase  and  sale,  by  the  state,  at  cost,  of  all  the 
leading  articles  of  consumption. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  I  had  engaged  in  some  operations  de- 
signed to  relieve  the  distress  of  our  fellow-citizens,  and  I  will  now  add 
have  also  supplied,  to  some  extent,  the  penitentiary  and  state  guard.  I 
also,  with  a  view  to  aid  in  furnishing  materials  to  the  workshops  of  the 
penitentiary,  shipped  several  small  lots  of  cotton  abroad,  and  imported 
in  return,  leather,  steel  and  a  variety  of  other  articles  intended  for  the 
purposes  stated  and  the  other  uses  of  the  state.  1  ha*Te  also  ordered 
cloth  for  the  state  guard,  which,  for  want  of  proper  clothing,  j  n 
a  very  discreditable  appearance.  The  result,  so  far,  of  these  opera- 
tions, is  highly  satisfactory.  The  difficulty  in  this  business  is  in  ob- 
taining transportation  on  the  railroads,  their  whole  capacity  being  gene- 
rally engrossed  by  the  confederate  government.  With  a  train,  the  ex- 
clusive property  of  the  state,  and  a  moderate  appropriation,  I  could  put 
supplies  of  bread  and  meat  here,  which  would  greatly  relieve  the  dis- 
tresses and  wants  of  our  people.  With  an  appropriation  of  an  amount 
sufficient  to  enable  me  to  purchase  a  steamer  and  to  load  her  with  cot- 
ton and  other  staples,  I  could  clothe  our  volunteers  in  comfort  and  de- 
cency, and  enable  the  state  to  redeem  the  pledge  made  to  our  volunteers 
by  the  resolution  adopted  January  17th,  1862.  It  is  morlifying  to  the 
pride  of  the  Virginian  to  see  our  gallant  soldiers  in  the  field  in  a  state 
of  want  and  destitution,  while  the  soldiers  of  other  states,  more  enter* 
prising,  have  every  comfort  which  they  require.  With  these  facilities, 
I  could  easily  supply  all  of  our  state  institutions  abundantly  and  upon 
the  best  of  terms.  I  shall  be  prepared  to  submit  to  a,  committee  of  the 
legislature  an  account  of  these  operations,  which  I  flatter  myself  will  he 
entirely  satisfactory. 

In  the  management  of  the  purchases  I  have  made,  within  the  Con- 
federacy as  well  as  abroad,  and  in  the  distribution  thereof,  I  have  called 
to  my  aid  the  quartermaster's  department,  the  members  of  which  have 


24  governor's  message. 

cheerfully  performed  all  the  duties  required  of  them.  The  report  of 
the  acting  quartermaster  general,  Major  Fitzhugh,  will  disclose  the 
character  and  extent  of  these  operations,  and  is  herewith  respectfully 
submitted. 

In  connection  with  this  subject,  I  have  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
rights  of  the  state  over  the  railroads  within  her  limits.  By  the  23d 
section  of  chapter  41  of  the  Code,  it  is  provided  that  "troops,  persons 
and.  munitions,  &C.  and  other  property  of  the  Confederate  States  shall, 
in  time  of  war,  be  required  to  pay  only  one-half  of  the  regular  tolls 
payable  by  other  persons."  The  construction  put  upon  the  railroad 
law  by  the  managers  of  these  roads,  sustained  by  the  opinion  of  the  at- 
torney general,  is  that  Virginia  is  not  included  in  this  provision,  and 
that  freights  upon  her  goods  and  persons  traveling  in  her  service  arc 
charged  as  the  persons  and  property  of  private  individuals.  This  dis- 
crimination is  certainly  very  unjust  to  the  state,  especially  as  she  is  a 
large  stockholder  in  all  of  said  roads.  Some  roads,  it  is  true,  have  put 
the  state  upon  the  same  footing  with  the  confederate  government;  but 
that  is  at  the  pleasure  of  the  management  of  the  road,  and  ought  to  be 
regulated  by  law.  In  North  Carolina  anr]  other  states  the  practice  ob- 
tains, I  suppose  by  authority  of  law,  that  whenever  the  governor  re- 
quires a  train  on  the  road  for  the  public  use,  he  issues  his  order  to  the 
particular  road  upon  which  transportation  is  required,  and  it  is  promptly 
furnished,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  demands  whatever.  I  respect- 
fullysuggest  that  a  similar  law  be  enacted,  conferring  upon  the  governor 
the  same  authority. 

Allow  me  to  suggest  a  careful  examination  into  the  business  opera- 
tions of  our  railroads.  Undoubtedly  they  are  far  from  affording  to  the 
traveler  that  comfort,  celerity  and  dispatch  which  was  expected  at  the 
time  of  theiii  construction.  This  is  hardly  denied  by  the  managers  of 
the  roads  ;  and  their  excuse  is,  the  pressure  of  the  government  busi- 
ness, and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  the  requisite  materials  and  hands  to 
keep  them  in  proper  order.  Others  say,  however,  that  the  fault  con- 
sists in  their  failure  to  apply  their  receipts  to  repairs,  equipment  and 
construction,  growing  out  of  their  eagerness  to  pay  off  their  debts. 
Without  professing  to  know  how  the  fact  is,  the  inconvenience  to  the 
public  calls  for  a  careful  investigation. 

I  have  the  honor  to  lay  before  you,  for  your  consideration,  the  annual 
report  of  the  adjutant  general.  It  embraces  the  report  of  the  ord- 
nance department.     Like  all  the  reports  of  this  old  and  valuable  officer, 


ftOYERNOR's    .MESSAo'E.  25 

it  abounds  in  wise  and  practical   suggestions  ;  which  I  recommend   to 
jour  favorable  consideration. 

I  submit  likewise  the  report  of  the  attorney  general. 

From  my  late  connection  with  the  army,  I  could  but  learn  the  great 
inconvenience  and  expense  to  whi  h  our  soldiers  are  put  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  their  claims  against  the  confederate  government.  The  claims 
of  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  had  died  or  been  killed  in  bat- 
tle, were  also  difficult  of  adjustment,  for  want  of  proper  information, 
and  the  great  expense  of  prosecuting  them  before  the  government,  re- 
sulting frequently  in  their  abandonment,  or  the  employment  of  agents 
at  a  ruinous  compensation.  I  felt  that  some  provision  should  be  made 
for  an  easier  and  cheaper  collection  of  these  highly  meritorious  demands. 
With  this  view,  I  ordered  Colonel  Henry  Hill,  paymaster  general 
of  the  state,  without  existing  employment,  to  undertake  the  adjustment 
of  all  such  claims,  free  of  charge.  He  was  also  directed  to  attend  to 
all  claims  on  the  part  of  any  soldier  of  the  Virginia  forces,  also  free  of 
charge.  And  I  authorized  him  to  provide  himself  with  whatever  was 
necessary  to  the  efficient  performance  of  his  duty.  Colonel  Hill  being 
in  the  pay  of  the  state,  the  additional  expense  will  be  inconsiderable  ; 
but  still,  if  such  an  agency  should  meet  with  your  approbation,  some 
legislation  will  be  necessary  to  perfect  it.  I  am  satisfied  that  it  has 
already  produced  much  good,  and  I  recommend  it  to  your  favor. 

After  your  adjournment,  I  was  repeatedly  called  upon  to  take  steps 
to  make  a  record  of  the  Virginia  forces,  which  should  include  not  only 
a  full  list  of  all  those  gallant  spirits  who  had  dedicated  their  lives  to 
the  defence  of  their  country,  but  also  a  list  of  deaths  by  disease  and 
battle  ;  of  those  wounded,  and  at  what  places  ;  of  those  distinguished 
by  acts  of  extraordinary  gallantry ;  of  desertions ;  of  traitors — in 
short,  to  make  a  roll  of  honor  as  well  as  dishonor,  so  as  to  transmit  to 
posterity  a  complete  record  of  the  conduct  of  the  sons  of  Virginia. 
Completed  and  carried  out,  as  it  is  important  it  should  be,  it  will  be  a 
book  of  valuable  reference,  and  of  profound  interest  to  us  all.  Yield- 
ing to  what  seemed  to  h£  public  sentiment,  and  instituting  an  examina- 
tion to  see  what  laws  (if  any)  had  been  passed  upon  the  subject,  I  found 
an  act  passed  Febauary  7th,  1862,  entitled  "an  act  to  empower  the  go- 
vernor to  have  made  out,  and  filed  in  the  state  department,  complete 
lists  of  Virginia  forces."  In  the  preamble  to  the  act  the  policy  indi- 
cated above  seems  to  have  been  intended  by  the  legislature ;  and  as  the 
power  is  conferred  by  that  act  upon  the  governor  to  do  all  things  neces- 


2G  governor's  message. 

sary  to  carry  out  such  intent,  I  organized  n  board  accordingly,  by  the 
appointment  of  Joseph  Jackson,  jr.  as  the  head  thereof,  with  an  assis- 
tant, and  specified  the  salaries  I  ired  by  them — inadequate,  it  is 
true,  hut  conforming  substantially  to  the  compensation  provided  by  law 
for  the  officials  in  the  several  departments  of  the  state  government.  I 
subsequently  authorized  other  appointments,  still  however  not  in  suffi- 
cient  number  to  proceed  with  proper  dispatch  in  the  execution  of  this 
noble  work.  The  plan  and  progress  of  the  work  will,  however,  be  dis- 
closed in  the  official  report  of  Mr.  Jackson,  to  which  I  invite  attention. 

In  consequence  of  the  great  atrocities  of  the  enemy,  of  every  de- 
scription known  to  savage  war,  I  enlarged  the  duties  of  the  recorder,  by 
directing  him  to  take  evidence  .of  the  outrages  referred  to,  that  an  un- 
doubted memorial  thereof  might  be  preserved,  and  the  truth  might 
stand  forever  vindicated.  I  deem  this  the  more  necessary,  as  posterity 
will  not  believe,  without  the  clearest  proof,  that  a  powerful  people, 
boasting  of  its  civilization,  was  capable  ef  perpetrating  acts  that  should 
damn  them  throughout  all  time  and  with  every  christian  nation.  This 
organization,  however,  requires  legislation  to  perfect  it. 

The  penitentiary  report  will  also  he  laid  before  you.  I  flatter -my- 
self it  will  exhibit  very  gratifying  results.  I  believe  that,  under  the 
management  of  its  present  efficient  superintendent,  it  will  soon  develop 
a  high  degree  of  prosperity.  It  lias  labored  under  great  disadvantages 
from  want  of  supplies  and  proper  managers,  from  which  causes  heavy 
losses  have  been  sustained.  When  large  shops  are  out  of  material  and 
hands  consequently  without  employment — when  an  unskilled  manager 
of  a  shop  permits  work  to  be  imperfectly  finished — heavy  losses  must  be 
inevitably  incurred.  Such  has  been  the  case  with  this  institution  under 
its  present  organization,  on  several  occasions.  It  is  almost  impossible 
to  obtain  material  in  the  existing  condition  of  the  country ;  and  true 
economy  requires  us  to  encounter  the  hazards  of  the  blockade  business, 
that  we  may  draw  our  supplies  from  abroad.  Another  disadvantage  to  the 
institution  grows  out  of  the  number  of  convictions  for  short  terms.  The 
period  is  too  short  for  the  convict  to  learn  a  trade,  and  his  labor  is 
consequently  wasteful  and  unproductive.  I  trifst,  gentlemen,  that  you 
will  correct  this  evil,  by  increasing  the  minimum  term  for  which  impri- 
sonment in  the  institution  is'  permitted. 

I  have  exercised  the  pardoning  power  with  liberality  in  the  short  term 
cases,  especially  when  the  convicts  were  soldiers,  or  would  make  such. 
I  thought  it  better  to  restore  them  to  their  commands,  or  to  the  enroll- 


governor's  message.  27 

ing  officer,  as  {.lie  ease  might  be,  after  a  confinement  sufficiently  long 
to  vindicate  the  majesty  of  the  law,  than  to  protract  an  unprofitable 
confinement.  A  list,  however,  of  the  eonvicts  who  have  been  pardoned, 
with  the  reason  therefor,  will  be  laid  before  you. 

The  mode  of  supplying  the  penitentiary,  through  a  purchasing  agent, 
has  been  most  judicious,  and  has  in  a  great  degree  protected  that  insti- 
tution against  the  effect  of  advancing  prices. 

I  have  found  it  very  difficult  to  provide  proper  clothing  for  the  state 
guard;  in  consequence  of  which  their  appearance  is  not  such  as  could 
be  desired.  I  have,  however,  recently  made  a  temporary  arrange- 
ment to  obviate  this  difficulty,  which  I  hope  will  not  again  occur.  A 
most  expensive  system  existed  of  supplying  the  guard  with  rations, 
which  I  deemed  it  my  duty  to  change.  I  directed  the  purchasing  agent 
of  the  penitentiary  to  purchase  for  this  organization  aiso,  which  has 
been  done  so  satisfactorily  as  to  save  a  large  sum  to  the  treasury.  The 
appropriation  need  not  be  as  large  for  the  coming  year  as  for  that  of 
the  preceding  one. 

I  herewith  communicate  the  report  of  the  rector  and  visitors  of  the 
University  of  Virginia.  It  is  so  full  and  satisfactory  that  it  requires 
no  comment. 

I  also  lay  the  report  of  the  Central  lunatic  asylum  before  you.  I 
invite  attention  to  its  suggestions.  One  of  them  is  to  sanction  the  pur- 
chase  of  supplies  by  the  obligations  of  the  institution,  payable  after 
the  war.  This  is  rather  an  interesting  question,  and  without  entirely 
adopting  the  suggestion,  I  commend  it  to  your  attention.  I  regret  that 
this  great  public  charity  should  feel  the  influence  of  an  expanding  cur- 
rency in  the  enlarged  appropriation  which  it  needs.  You  will  not,  I 
.am  sure,  refuse  it. 

The  report  of  the  Virginia  Military  institute  will,  of  course,  be  laid 
before  you.  This  valuable  and  interesting  institution  has  suffered  se- 
verely from  the  inflictions  of  this  war.  Her  gallant  corps  of  cadets 
have  illustrated  their  training  by  conspicuously  participating  in  the 
hard-fought  battle  of  the  15th  day  of  May,  1864,  at  New  Market,  un- 
der Major  General  Breckinridge,  and  giving  a  foretaste  of  what  may 
be  confidently  expected  of  them  when  new  fields  may  demand  their 
valor  and  maturer  manhood  may  call  for  its  display.  Subsequently, 
however,  the  advancing  power  of  the  enemy  swept  up  the  Valley,  and, 
n  its  desolating  path,  destroyed  their  fine  buildings,  mafting  it  neces- 
sary to  obtain  other   quarters.     After  much  difficulty,  the  almshouse 


28  GOVERNOR'.-    MESSAGE. 

near  this  city,  admirably  fitted  for  the  purpose,  has  been  obtained,  where 
the  exercises  of  the  school  will  be  resumed  as  soon  as  the  proper  pre- 
parations can  be  made. 

The  report  of  the  auditor  of  public   accounts  shows  that  the  revenue 

standing  to   the  credit  of  the  commonwealth  proper,  on  the  1st  day  of 

October  last,  amounted  to  ...  5,416,734  87 

The  same  officer   estimates  receipts  into  the  treasury 

during  the  fiscal  year  ending  30th  of  September  next, 

from  the  several  sources  of  revenue,  at    -  -  4,612,010  00 


Making  a  total  sum  of  -  -         10,028,744  87 

He  estimates  that  the  disbursements  during  the  same 

period  will  be       -         '   -  -  -  -        21,509,090  61 


Leaving  a  deficiency  of  -  -       $11,480,345  74 

Since  the  1st  of  October,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  fiscal  year, 
the  commissioners,  consisting  of  the  governor,  treasurer  and  auditor  of 
public  accounts,  in  pursuance  of  "  an  act  to  authorize  the  funding  of 
certain  currency  belonging  to  the  state  in  confederate  bonds,  and  to 
authorize  the  sale  of  such  bonds  if  necessary,  and  to  authorize  the  con- 
version of  other  notes  into  other  issues,"  passed  March  3d,  1864,  caused 
$5,000,000  of  the  currency  then  standing  to  the  credit  of  the  com- 
monwealth to  be  funded  in  six  per  cent,  confederate  bonds ;  and  al- 
though they  were  authorized  by  act  of  assembly  to  make  sale  of  the 
bonds,  they  have  neither  deemed  it  necessary  or  prudent  to  do  so.  This 
funding  has  withdrawn  $5,000,000  of  the  currency,  which  stood  to  the 
credit  of  the  commonwealth  on  the  1st  of  October,  and  would,  appa- 
rently, enlarge  the  above  deficiency  to  $16,480,345  74,  were  it  not  that* 
the  legislature  may  satisfy  a  part  of  the  present  demands  upon  the 
treasury  due  to  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund,  by  a  transfer  of 
the  said  confederate  bonds  to  that  corporation,  under  the  provisions  of 
the  twenty-ninth  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  constitution  of 
Virginia,  which  provides  that  "  there  shall  be  set  apart  annually,  from 
the  accruing  revenues,  a  sum  equal  to  seven  per  cent,  of  the  state  debt 
existing  on  the  first  day  of  January  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty-two.  The  fund  thus  set  apart  shall  be  called  the  sinking  fund, 
and  shall  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  of  the  state  debt 
and  the  principal  of  such  part  as  may  be  redeemable.  If  no  part  be 
redeemable,  then  the  residue  of  the  sinking  fund,  after  the  payment  of 


governor's  MESSAGE.  '  '29 

such  interest,  shall  be  invested  in  the  bonds  or  certificates  of  debt  of 
this  commonwealth,  or  of  the  Confederate  States,  or  of  some  of  the  states 
of  this  Confederacy,  and  applied  to  the  pajmient  of  the  state  debt  as  it 
shall  become  redeemable.  Whenever,  after  the  said  first  day  of  Janu- 
ary, a  debt  shall  be  contracted  by  the  commonwealth,  there  shall  be  set 
apart  in  like  manner,  annually,  for  thirty-four  years,  a  sum  exceeding 
by  one  per  cent,  the  aggregate  amount  of  the  annual  interest  agreed  to 
be  paid  thereon  at  the  time  of  its  contraction,  which  sum  shall  be  part 
of  the  sinking  fund,  and  shall  be  applied  in  the  manner  before  directed. 
The  general  assembly  shall  not  otherwise  appropriate  any  part  of  the 
sinking  fund,  or  its  accruing  interest,  except  in  time  of  war,  insurrec- 
tion or  inwasion." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  no  part  of  the  state  debt  is  redeemable, 
except  at  the  pleasure  of  the  general  assembly  ;  in  which  event,  the 
commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund  may  invest  the  funds  as  well  for  re- 
demption as  for  investment  in  the  bonds  of  the  Confederate  States. 
This  disposition  of  the  confederate  bonds  would  diminish  the  present 
demand  upon  the  treasury,  by  the  sum  of  $2,269,772  80,  now  due  for 
redemption  and  investment,  and  relieve  the  treasury  from  the  obligation 
of  making  further  provision  for  such  fund  until  after  the  year  1868. 

I  deem  it  right  to  say  that  this  large  deficit  may  not  be  expected  to 
be  called  for  during  the  coming  year.  Indeed,  I  am  satisfied  that  there 
will  be  no  difficulty  in  meeting  all  demands  upon  the  treasury,  with  the 
aid  of  proper  arrangements.  Besides  other  large  claims  against  the 
confederate  government,  the  auditing  board  of  the  state  report  a  balance 
against  it,  for  moneys  paid  out,  or  cash  articles  supplied,  amounting  to 
eight  millions  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand  six  hundred  and  one 
dollars  and  one  cent  ($8,154,601  01).  Some  of  the  vouchers  for  this 
amount  have  not  yet  been  obtained,  but  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in 
procuring  them.  This  large  claim  should  no  longer  be  neglected ;  but 
to  some  one  should  be  assigned  the  special  duty  of  settling  and  collect- 
ing it.     Its  payment  would  greatly  relieve*  the  treasury. 

The  statement  of  the  treasurer  is  herewith  submitted,  characterized 
by  its  usual  intelligence  and  perspicuity.     It  requires  no  comment. 

The  second  auditor's  report  will  also  be  laid  before  you.  It  exhibits 
a  clear  and  lucid  condition  of  the  public  debt. 

Under  the  operation  of^the  tax  laws  of  the  confederate  government, 
the  right  is  asserted  to  tax  the  stock  of  the  stale,  in  her  various  corpo- 
rations.    This  claim  was  made  during  the  administration  of  my  pre- 


30  '  GOVERNORS    MESSAGE. 

decessor,  and  was  then  abandoned,  but  is  now  revived.  It  is  not  pre- 
tended that  the  confederate  government  has  a  right  to  tax  state  property, 
but  it  is  insisted  that  her  property  in  banks,  railroads  and  other  corpo- 
rations being  in  the  form  of  stock,  she  has  merged  her  sovereignty,  and 
consequently  that  she  has  only  the  rights  of  private  corporations,  and 
is  subject  to  the  taxation  imposed  upon  them.  This  distinction  is  merely 
technical,  and  I  forbear  criticising  it  as  I  might.  The  opinion  of  the 
attorney  general  is  strongly  against  it.  As  the  amount  involved  is  large, 
it  should  receive  prompt  attention. 

A  strong  disposition  has  been  evinced  from  time  to  time  to  suppress 
distillation  of  grain,  &c;  but  unfortunately,  the  distillation  of  undriert 
fruit  was  not  included  in  the  prohibition.  The  recent  crop  of  apples 
was  the  most  abundant  we  have  had  for  many  years,  and  would  have 
furnished  a  large  amount  of  healthy  succulents  and  an  ample  supply  of 
vinegar,  so  essential  as  an  anti-scorbutic  for  our  soldiers.  But  a  frenzy, 
almost,  seems  to  have  seized  upon  the  people  for  converting  this  fine 
crop  into  brandy,  which,  in  its  effects  upon  our  army,  is  most  pernicious. 
I  earnestly  recommend  that  the  law  may  be  enlarged,  so  as  to  compre- 
hend an  inhibition  of  the  distillation  of  all  fruit. 

Difficulties  still  exist  in  connection  with  the  state  salt  works,  and  the 
transportation  to  and  from  them.  It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that 
this  gift  of  God  to  man  cannot  be  enjoyed  in  peace.  The  states  of 
North  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama  and  Tennessee,  through  their  agents, 
complain  of  their  treatment  in  relation  to  their  trains,  and  believe  that 
they  do  not  obtain  that  liberal  justice  which,  they  think,  the  comity  be- 
tween the  states  should  give  them.  This  impression  originates,  from 
what  I  can  learn,  in  the  manner  in  which  transportation  is  conducted 
on  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee  road,  and  in  the  belief  that  the  private 
salt  of  the  state  superintendent  is  transported  thereon  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  the  acts  in  relation  thereto.  By  the  law,  as  it  now  stands,  it 
is  expressly  declared,  "that .whenever  the  superintendent  shall  become 
interested,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  manufacture  or  sale  of  salt,  his 
office  shall  be  declared  vacant."  By  a  contract  between  the  board  of 
supervisors  and  said  superintendent,  they  litre  from  him  one  hundred 
and  twenty-one  negro  men,  at  ten  bushels  of  salt  each  per  month,  and 
twelve  negro  women,  at  five  bushels  per  month  each,  making  an  aggre- 
gate of  nearly  thirteen  hundred  bushels  of  salt  per  month  ;  which,  ne- 
cessarily, must  find  a  m'arket,  or  be  useless  to  the,  owner.  The  right  as 
well   as  the  policy  of  such  a  contract  may  well  be  questioned.     Un- 


governor's  message.  .         31 

doubtedly  it  nullifies  the  restriction  referred  to,  and  moreover  inspires 
an  impression  on  the  part  of  those  interested  in  the  production  and 
transportation  of  salt  that  it  is  to  the  interest  of  the  superintendent  to 
appropriate  the  transportation  to  his  own  private  benefit,  and  to  em- 
barrass its  production  and  transportation  on  the  part  of  others.  How- 
ever unfounded  this  suspicion  may  be — and  I  have  great  confidence  in 
the  fairness  and  integrity  of  Col.  Clarkson — yet,  the  policy  of  the  act 
prohibiting  the  superintendent  from  any  interest  in  the.  sale  of  salt,  so 
as  to  protect  him  from  all  suspicion,  ought  undoubtedly  to  be  sternly 
enforced.  I  respectfully  suggest  that  a  different  mode  of  compensation 
than  that  of  salt  should  be  adopted,  ft  will  not  do  for  Virginia,  con- 
trolling as  she  docs  this  great  necessity  of  man,  to  allow  such  a  state 
of  things  as  may,  even  plausibly,  subject  her  superintendent  to  the 
imputation  of  using  the  great  power  which  must  be  confided  to  him  for 
his  private  ends.  It  does  not  look  well,  after  impressing  the  property 
of  Stuart,  Buchanan  &  Co.  to  protect  the  country  against  what  was 
thought  to  be  their  extortion,  to  allow  in  any  degree  a  similar  power  to 
her  agenl. 

I  respectfully  submit  that  we,  t lie  state  of  Virginia,  ought  not  to  em- 
barrass in  any  respect  the  trains  of  our  sister  states  strictly  engaged  in 
the  transportation' of  their  own  salt,  which  we  have  authorized  them  to 
make.  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee  road,  when  it 
is  necessary  to  do  so,  can  easily  obtain,  by  private  arrangement,  the  use 
of  such  trains,  when  not  engaged  in  transporting  their  own  salt.  Nor 
can  I  see  the  difficulty  which  seems  to  prevail  in  getting  fuel  to  the  salt 
works,  or  removing  the  salt,  when  made,  therefrom.  A  single  train  of 
cars  per  day.  I  am  informed,  will  carry  more  wood  to  Saltville  than  our 
works  will  consume,  while  a  single  train  therefrqin,  carrying  three 
thousand  bushels,  will  transport  one-third  more  than  the  whole  supply 
needed  by  the  confederate  government  and  the  state  of  Virginia.  Man- 
ifestly something  is  wrong,  and  I  respectfully  invite  your  careful  atten- 
tion to  the  matter. 

I  think  the  operations  at  Saltville  would  be  greatly  simplified  by  the 
state  undertaking  to  supply  her  sister  states  with  salt,  deliverable  at 
Saltville,  they  sending  by  their  trains  supplies  for  the  use  of  the  works 
at  that  place.  I  have  no  doubt  such  an  arrangement  would  give  satis- 
faction to  all  concerned. 

I  have  now,  gentlemen  of  the  assembly,  frankly  presented  to  you  my 
views  upon  all  measures  to  which  I  deem  it  necessary  to  invite  your  at- 


3*2         .  governor's  message. 

tention.  I  cannot  hope  that  you  will  concur  with  me  entirely  ;  but  no 
measure  has  been  suggested,  which,  after  careful  consideration,  does 
not  strongly  impress  me  as  either  necessary  to  the  improvement  of  our 
condition,  or  calculated  to  strengthen  our  hands  in  the  fearful  struggle 
in  which  we  are  now  engaged.  Our  national  life  depends  in  no  slight 
degree  upon  the  separate  action  of  the  several  states  of  the  Confede- 
racy ;  and  I  would  not  have  our  beloved  state,  in  any  of  her  depart- 
ments, to  betray  a  want  of  the  purest  and  highest  heroism  in  her  official 
conduct.  Let  us,  gentlemen,  remember,  in  the  eloquent  language  of 
our  court  of  appeals,  that  "*the  obligation  of  the  citizen  to  render  mili- 
tary service  is  a  paramount  social  and  political  duty,"  and  pass  all  laws 
which  are  necessary  to  give  a  military  organization  to  our*  whole  peo- 
ple. If,  in  any  proposed  measure,  we  doubt  our  power  or  its  propriety, 
let  us  remember  that  it  is  a  well  established  rule  of  construction,  "  that 
all  grants  of  privileges  and  exemptions  from  general  burdens  are  to  be 
construed  liberally  in  favor  of  the  public,  and  strictly  as  against  the 
grantee."        • 

And  now,  gentlemen,  firmly  relying  upon  a  merciful  God  to  crown 
our  efforts  with  a  safe  deliverance  from  the  perils  which  threaten  our 
dearest  hopes  and  most  precious  interests,  I  invoke  the  favor  of  Heaven 
upon  your  labors,  not  doubting  but  that  all  your  aims  will  be  your 
Country's,  your  God's,  and  Truth's. 

Respectfully, 

WM.  SMITH. 


governor's  message.  33 


AN  ACT  TO  PROVIDE  FOR  A  STATE  GUARD. 


Whereas  the  state  of  Virginia  has  suffered  severely,  during  the  pre- 
sent war,  by  the  hands  of  our  uncivilized  foe,  in  the  desolation  of  the 
homes,  the  waste,  consumption  and  robbery  of  the  property  of  many  of 
our  people :  and  whereas  large  districts  of  our  territory  are  in  the 
hands  of  such  enemy,  while  the  people  thereof,  because  of  such  bar- 
barian conduct,  have  been,  in  many  instances,  reduced  to  poverty  and 
want,  and  not  unfrequently  imprisoned  in  loathsome  dungeons,  for  no 
other  reason  than  their  detestation  of  the  wretched  tyranny  by  which 
they  are  outraged  and  oppressed :  and  whereas  the  conduct  of  our  foe 
clearly  indicates  that  he  has  no  expectation  of  reconstruction  nor  desire 
of  reunion  with  us,  and  looks  only  to  our  impovishment  and  subjuga- 
tion, thus  imposing  upon  us  the  noble  duty  of  organizing  our  whole 
strength,  in  aid  of  our  gallant  brethren  in  the  field,  that  by  our  com- 
bined exertions  we  may  establish  our  liberty  and  independence,  or  fail- 
ing in  which,  may  find  a  patriot's  grave  :  and  whereas  the  able-bodied 
men  of  the  state,  designated  as  the  militia  thereof,  are  now  in  the  service 
of  the  Confederacy  or  subject  to  her  control,  while  we  have  a  large 
number  of  men  and  lads  who  are  able  to  render  most  important  service 
in  repelling  raids,  arresting  deserters  and  other  military  delinquents, 
relieving  posts  and  assisting  in  the  defence  of  cities,  towns,  &c,  are  un- 
organized and  subject  to  no  military  duty  whatever:  Now,  therefore, 

1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  general  assembly,  that  all  white  male  inhabi- 
tants of  the  state,  of  sixteen  years  and  upwards,  who  are  not  enrolled 
in  the  army  of  the  Confederate  States,  or  who  have  been  discharged 
therefrom,  and  all  refugees  and  persons  sojourning  within  the  state, 
shall  be  immediately  organized  by  the  governor  in  such  manner  as  to 
him  may  seem  best.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  several  county  and 
corporation  courts  to  convene  immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  act, 
and  with  the  aid  of  the  commissioners  of  the  revenue,  sheriffs  and  ser- 
geants, and  by  way  of  assistance  to  the  governor,  cause  all  the  persons 
before  mentioned  to   be  enrolled.     And  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  per- 


34  governor's  message. 

sons  subject  to  enrolment  to  report  themselves  to  said  courts  without 
delay,  stating  their  respective  ages.  Any  person  who  may  fail  or  refuse 
to  report  himself,  shall  be  iined  by  the  court  not  less  than  fifty  nor  more 
than  one  hundred  dollars,  to  be  levied  and  collected  as  militia  fines.  In 
execution  of  the  duty  required  of  them  by  this  act,  the  courts  are  em- 
powered to  require  the  attendance  of  their  clerks,  the  sheriffs,  sergeants 
and  commissioners  of  the  revenue  of  their  several  counties  and  corpo- 
rations, whose  presence  shall  be  entered  of  record.  And  should  any 
one  of  the  officials  before  enumerated  fail  in  their  attendance  in  whole 
or  in  part,  without  good  and  sufficient  cause,  of  which  the  court  shall 
be  the  sole  and  exclusive  judge,  such  delinquent  shall  be  fined  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  to  be  collected  as  the  other  judgments  of  their  courts,  and 
paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  state.  The  enrolment  hereby  required 
shall  be  preserved  in  the  clerk's  office,  and  a  copy  thereof  shall  be  for- 
warded to  the  adjutant  general  of  the  state. 

2.  The  special  character  of  the  service  herein  provided  for,  leaves 
but  little  room  for  exemptions  or  substitutes,  and  therefore  they  are  left 
to  be  provided  for,  in  peculiar  cases,  by  the  governor,  by  such  regula- 
tions as  he  may  deem  expedient.  But  all  professors  of  religion,  of 
whatever  denomination  or  creed  :  all  physicians ;  all  shoemakers,  tan. 
ners,  blacksmiths,  wagon  makers,  millers  and  their  engineers,  mill- 
wrights, operators  in  wool  and  cotton  factories ;  paper  mills ;  and  all 
teachers  of  colleges,  academies,  schools  and  theological  seminaries;  all 
artisans,  mechanics  and  employees  in  the  establishments  of  such  persons 
as  may  be  engaged  under  contracts  with  the  state  or  confederate  gov- 
ernment ;  all  managers,  mechanics  and  miners  employed  in  the  manu_ 
facture  Of  salt,  of  lead  and  iron;  those  engaged  in  burning  coke,  miners 
in  coal  mines,  and  all  those  engaged  in  attending  upon  cattle,  mules, 
horses  and  sheep  ;  all  who  may  be  engaged  for  police  purposes,  and  such 
as  have  been  or  may  be  exempted  by  the  president  on  the  ground  of  jus- 
tice, equity  or  necessity,  and  exempted  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  act 
of  congress  passed  11th  October,  1862 ;  all  men  detailed  for  special 
duty  by  order  of  the  secretary  of  war,  his  assent  thereto  being  first  had 
and  obtained,  and  all  who  shall  have  furnished  substitutes  in  the  state  or 
confederate  service,  refugees  and  persons  sojourning  within  the  state, 
shall  be  embraced  in  the  enrolment  directed  by  this  act. 

3.  The  governor  is  authorized  and  required  to  organize  the  force  pro- 
vided by  this  act  in  all  respects  as  to  him  may  seem  best.  As  soon 
as  he  shall  complete  the  organization  herein  directed,  he  shall  re- 
port the  same  to  the  general  assembly  for  their  information,  and  for 


governor's  message.  35 

such  action,  if  any.,  as  to  them  may  seem  fit.  This  force  shall  be  de- 
nominated the  "state  guard,"  and  may  be  called  out  by  the  governor, 
in  part  or  in  whole,  whenever  in  his  judgment  it  is  necessary  in  defence 
of  the  state ;  in  resisting  raids  and  sudden  invasion  ;  in  preserving 
order  and  domestic  tranquillity;  in  relieving  the  confederate  govern- 
ment from  the  necessity  of  providing  guards  for  the  protection  and  se- 
curity of  prisoners  :  for  the  various  posts  and  other  necessary  organiza- 
tions ;  to  arrest  deserters,  absentees  and  other  military  delinquents. 
Such  portions  of  the  "  state  guard"  as  may  be  raised  in  their  respective 
counties,  cities  and  towns,  shall  be  assigned  to  duty  therein,  if  not  in- 
consistent with  the  public  interests,  when  necessary.  No  portion  of 
such  "guard  "  shall,  under  any  circumstances,  or  at  any  time,  be  re- 
quired to  go  beyond  the  limits  of  the  state  ;  nor  shall  such  "guard," 
or  any  portion  thereof,  be  called  into  service  for  a  longer  period  at  any 
one  time  than  thirty  days. 

4.  Such  enrolled  men  as  possess  private  arms  may  be  required  to  use 
them  in  the  public  service,  and  shall  be  compensated  for  any  loss  or 
damage  they  may  sustain  by  so  doing.  The  remainder  shall  be  armed 
by  the  state ;  and  all  shall  be  furnished  with  the  requisite  ammunition. 
It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  governor  to  see  that  the  arms  and  other 
public  property  which  may  be  issued  from  time  to  time  to  the  "state 
guard  "  shall  be  promptly  accounted  for  and  delivered  up,  when  thereto 
required,  under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  he  may  prescribe. 

5.  The  governor  may  establish  such  rules  and  regulations  for  the 
promotion  of  discipline  and  efficiency  in  this  organization  as  he  may 
deem  necessary.  And  if  any  person  who  is  held  to  service  under  this 
act  shall  fail  or  refuse  to  perform  any  of  the  military  duties  required 
by  its  provisions,  he  shall  be  imprisoned  in  the  jail  of  the  county  or 
corporation  not  less  than  ten  nor  more  than  thirty  days,  at  his  own 
proper  costs  and  charges,  and  shall  be  fined  not  less  than  ten  nor  more 
than  one  hundred  dollars ;  and  if  he  be  not  a  native  of  any  of  the 
Confederate  States,  shall  be  required  to  leave  the  state  of  Virginia 
forthwith.  The  commandant  of  each  regiment  shall  detail  a  board, 
consisting  of  one  field  officer  and  two  commandants  of  companies,  and 
the  commandant  of  the  battalion,  where  there  is  no  regiment,  shall  de- 
tail a  board,  consisting  of  three  commandants  of  companies,  who  shall 
take  cognizance  of  and  decide  upon  all  such  cases.  All  fines  imposed 
by  these  boards  shall  be  promptly  collected  by  the  sheriff  or  sergeant  as 
militia  fines,  upon  certificate  of  the  presiding  officer. 


36  governor's  message. 

6.  This  act  being  a  war  measure,  -will  cease  and  be  of  none  effect 
from  and  after  the  proclamation  of  peace.  So  much  of  the  act  passed 
March  7th,  1862,  entitled  an  act  to  authorize  the  governor  to  organize  and 
call  out  certain  military  forces  for  the  defence  of  the  state  as  provides  for 
the  organization  of  a  second  class  militia,  and  the  act  passed  May  14th, 
1862,  entitled  an  act  to  organize  a  "home  guard,"  be  and  are  hereby 
absorbed  in  the  organization  authorized  by  this  act ;  and  all  other  acts 
and  parts  of  act  in  conflict  therewith,  shall  be  and  are  hereby  sus- 
pended. All  commissions  under  the  acts  above  specified  shall  be  and 
are  null  and  void. 

7.  This  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  passage. 


governor's  message.  37 


SUPPLEMENTAL  MESSAGE. 


State  of  Virginia,  Executive  Department, 

Richmond,  December  9th,  1864. 
To  the  G-eneral  Assembly  of  Virginia : 
Gentlemen, 

In  my  message  of  yesterday,  I  find  I  was  accidentally 
led  into  an  error,  which  it  is  proper  should  be  promptly  corrected.  The 
letter  of  the  auditor  of  public  accounts,  herewith  communicated,  ex- 
plains the  mistake  and  how  it  occurred.  '  From  the  data  furnished  me 
from  the  books  of  that  office,  I  stated  that  there  would  be  a  deficiency 
in  the  treasury,  at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  1865,  of  eleven  millions, 
four  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand,  three  hundred  and  fifty-five 
dollars  and  seventy-four  cents,  which,  I  confess,  was  an  amount  much 
greater  than  I  had  supposed.  From  the  statement  now  supplied,  I  am 
gratified  to  say  that  the  estimated  deficiency  at  that  time  will  be  only 
three  millions,  nine  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand,  three  hundred 
and  eighty-nine  dollars  and  fifty-six  cents,  an  amount,  in  time  of  war, 
really  insignificant.  When  it  is  considered  that  the  people  of  the  com- 
monwealth, for  the  last  year,  were  relieved  almost  entirely  from  state 
taxation,  this  result  is  certainly  encouraging.  I  invoke  your  attention 
to  the  letter  of  the  auditor,  and  ask  that  the  quotation  from  my  mes- 
sage, as  corrected,  may  be  substituted  for  the  original  statement. 
Very  respectfully, 

WM.  SMITH. 


38  governor's  message. 


Auditor's  Office, 
Richmond,  December  8,  1864. 
His  Excellency,  William  Smith, 

Governor  of  Virginia: 
Sir, 

In  estimating  tlie  receipts  of  taxes  and  their  disbursements 
through  this  office  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  on  the  30th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1865,  a  mistake  was  committed  in  estimating  as  expenditures 
$7,557,956  07  by  reason  of  -warrants  to  be  drawn  on  the  old  issue 
of  Confederate  States  treasury  notes,  without  a  corresponding  credit 
on  account  of  the  new  issue  to  be  received  tor  the  old  issue  of  said  notes. 

That  part  of  your  message  relating   to  the  report  of  the  auditor  of 
public  accounts  should  be  corrected  so  as  to  read  as  follows: 

The  report  of  the  auditor  of  public   accounts  shows  that  the  revenue 

standing  to  the  credit  of  the  commonwealth  proper,  on  the  1st  day  of 

October  last,  amounted  to  ...  5,416,731   87 

The  same  officer   estimates   receipts  into   the  treasury 

during  the  fiscal  year  ending  30th  of  September  next, 

from  the  several  sources  of  revenue,  at    -  -         12,169,966  16 


Making  a  total  sum  of  -  -  17,586,70103 

)  estimates   that   the  disbursements  during  the  same 
period  will  be      -----        21,509,090  61 


Leaving  a  deficiency  of  83.922,389  56 

Since  the  1st  of  October,  at  the  beginning  of  th^  present  fiscal  year, 
the  commissioners,  consisting  of  the  governor,  treasurer  and  auditor  of 
public  accounts,  in  pursuance  of  "  an  act  to  authorize  the  funding  of 
certain  currency  belonging  to  the  state  in  confederate  bonds,  and  to 
authorize  the  sale  of  such  bonds  if  necessary,  and  to  authorize  the  con- 
version of  other  notes  into  other  issu<  b,"  pas  ;i  d  .'  ,  1864,  caused 
$5,000,000  of  the  currency  then  standing  to  the  credit  of  the  com- 
monwealth to  be  funded  in  six  per  c  >nds ;  and  al- 
though they  were  authorized  by  act  of  assembly  to  make  sale  of  the 
bonds,  they  have  neither  deemed  it  necessary  or  pi  o  do  so.  This 
funding  has  withdrawn  $5,000,000  of  the  currency,  which  stood  to  the 
credit  of  the  commonwealth  on  the  1st  of  October,  and  would,  appa- 
rently, enlarge  the  above  deficiency  to  $8,922,389  38,  were  it  not  that 
the  legislature  may  satisfy  a  part  of  the  present  demands  upon  the 
treasury  due  to  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund,  by  a  transfer  of 
Id  i    .      lerate  bonds  to  that  corporation,  under  the  provisions  of 


40  governor's  message. 

the  twenty-ninth  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  constitution  of 
Virginia,  which  provides  that  "  there  shall  be  set  apart  annually,  from 
the  accruing  revenues,  a  sum  equal  to  seven  per  cent,  of  the  state  debt 
existing  on  the  first  day  of  January  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty-two.  The  fund  thus  set  apart  shall  be  called  the  sinking  fund, 
and  shall  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  of  the  state  debt 
and  the  principal  of  such  part  as  may  be  redeemable.  If  no  part  be 
redeemable,  then  the  residue  of  the  sinking  fund,  after  the  payment  of 
such  interest,  shall  be  invested  in  the  bonds  or  certificates  of  debt  of 
this  commonwealth,  or  of  the  Confederate  States,  or  of  some  of  the  states 
of  this  Confederacy,  and  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  state  debt  as  it 
shall  become  redeemable.  Whenever,  after  the  said  first  day  of  Janu- 
ary, a  debt  shall  be  «ontracted  by  the  commonwealth,  there  shall  be  set 
apart  in  like  manner,  annually,  for  thirty-four  years,  a  sum  exceeding 
by  one  per  cent,  the  aggregate  amount  of  the  annual  interest  agreed  to 
be  paid  thereon  at  the  time  of  its  contraction,  which  sum  shall  be  part 
of  the  sinking  fund,  and  shall  be  applied  in  the  manner  before  directed. 
The  general  assembly  shall  not  otherwise  appropriate  any  par*  of  the 
sinking  fund,  or  its  accruing  interest,  except  in  time  of  war,  insurrec- 
tion or  inwasion." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  no  part  of  the  state  debt  is  redeemable, 
except  at  the  pleasure  of  the  general  assembly ;  in  which  event,  the 
commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund  may  invest  the  funds  as  well  for  re- 
demption as  for  investment  in  the  bonds  of  the  Confederate  States. 
This  disposition  of  the  confederate  bonds  would  diminish  the  present 
demand  upon  the  treasury,  by  the  sum  of  $2,269,772  80,  now  due  for 
redemption  and  investment,  and  relieve  the  treasury  from  the  obligation 
of  making  further  provision  for  such  fund  until  after  the  year  1868. 

I  deem  it  right  to  say  that  this  deficit  may  not  be  expected  to 
be  called  for  during  the  coming  year.  Indeed,  I  am  satisfied  that  there 
will  be  no  difficulty  in  meeting  all  demands  upon  the  treasury,  with  the 
aid  of  proper  arrangements.  Besides  other  large  claims  against  the 
confederate  government,  the  auditing  board  of  the  state  report  a  balance 
against  it,  for  moneys  paid  out,  or  cash  articles  supplied,  amounting  to 
eight  millions  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand  six  hundred  and  one 
dollars  and  one  cent  ($8,154,601  01).  Some  of  the  vouchers  for  this 
amount  have  not  yet  been  obtained,  but  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in 
procuring  them.  This  large  claim  should  no  longer  be  neglected  ;  but 
to  some  one  should  be  assigned  the  special  duty  of  settling  and  collect- 
ing it.     Its  payment  would  greatly  relieve  the  treasury. 

I  regret  that  I  should  have  been  led  into  an  error  finding  its  place  in 
your  message,  and  I  take  this  early  opportunity  to  correct  it.  My 
forthcoming  report  will  exhibit  the  true  condition  of  the  finances  of  the 
commonwealthr 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  most  ob't  serv't, 

J.  M.  BENNETT, 
Auditor  of  Public  Accounts. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
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